Cadaverous Bloom
by Green Tea Bubbles
Summary: Sakura lives in Tokyo. Her best friend is Ino, Uchiha Sasuke has a concert coming up (she's going!), and her high-school friend Naruto is expanding his ramen chain with the sponsorship of Uchiha Corp. and Fish'o'Fill. Her life is normal. So why is she suddenly being approached by strangers with the most bizarre powers? Who is Akatsuki? And why do they keep saying - this isn't real?
1. Flowers of Evil

**AN: **Wow. My first multi-chaptered fic. I never expected this to happen - like ever - but this idea wouldn't escape me so here it is. It won't be very long, but I'm pretty confident this will be finished. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

Sakura wakes up in an alternate reality which seems so different from her own. But is it really?

**Also, a little note:** this chapter goes a bit slowly because it sets the scene, but things will get very heated, very fast.

* * *

**Flowers of Evil**

_Prelude_

"Shh..."

"She's waking."

"Good girl. Come on Sakura, you can do it."

Sakura's eyes slowly drift open.

"She's awake," Shizune breathes. Next to her, Hinata smiles softly.

"Good," she says, bobbing her head. "I'll go tell Naruto before he has an aneurysm."

Sakura smiles weakly as Shizune chuckles and props her up.

"You feeling better?" Shizune asks wryly, handing her an ice pack for her head. "Hidan king hit you in the corridor. We thought it was going to be pretty bad but it turned out alright - you have a harder head than I thought."

Sakura chuckles weakly, flexing her hand experimentally before wincing. Her wrist is bandaged and throbbing and her head's not feeling much better. She tries to adjust her position on the hospital bed but pain shoots up her body. She grimaces, and a look confirms her thoughts – her body is littered with various bruises.

"Hard fall," Shizune says, patting her on the head. She grabs her notepad and quickly pens a note. "For your next class," she says kindly. "Hinata told me you've Ebisu. He'll chew you out for being late."

"Thanks Shizune-nee," Sakura says with a smile. Her mentor smiles and hands her back her books, reaching over and helping her up.

"I'm glad you're alright. Those seniors really are trouble - this is the third time Hidan's gone overboard. Quite unlucky you happened to be in his firing range but you won't have anything to worry about now - Sarutobi-sama will talk to him."

"That'll be good," Sakura says softly before the door bursts open. Naruto runs in, chest heaving, a sighing Hinata standing behind him.

"Sakura-chan!" he shouts. She smiles weakly but before she can tell him the usual 'I'm alright' and that 'a bear hug is quite unnecessary thank you very much' he has already leaped forward.

"You suck Sakura! Don't worry me like that ever again," he mumbles as he engulfs her in a hug. Behind him, Hinata shakes her head bemusedly.

"I'm sorry," Hinata says sheepishly as the older woman pries Naruto off his friend. "I tried to hold him back."

"That's alright," Shizune says with a sigh, shaking her head at Naruto. "No hugs. She's still fragile."

Naruto lets her go quickly and rubs his head guiltily. "Sorry Sakura," he mumbles.

Sakura laughs weakly and scoops her books up from her desk. "No worries. And shouldn't the two of you be in class?"

Opposite her, the two freeze.

"Oh no," Hinata says quietly before blushing, "I completely forgot." She whirls onto Naruto and grabs his arm. "And you!" she says, "I know you have Kurenai-sensei. If you're late again this will be your third strike."

Naruto curses under his breath, quickly pulling Sakura up.

"We gotta go Sakura-chan!"

"Yes," Shizune sighs, shooing them out of her office. "You do."

"Be safe," she calls one last time before closing the door, leaving the trio in the deserted school hallway.

"Hate class," Naruto mumbles, quickly ducking Sakura's swipe.

"Naruto," she admonishes, "You know-"

"Class is important yeah yeah."

He shoots her his best puppy-dog look and she relents, reaching forward and giving him and Hinata a hug.

"Go on now you two. Hinata? Take care of Naruto?"

"Of course," the girl says with a smile. Naruto gives Sakura an enthusiastic wave before linking his arm through Hinata's.

"See ya later Sakura! Stay safe!"

"Have fun!" she calls back, waving as the two round the corner.

When they finally disappear she drops her hand and grins. They'll be getting together sooner or later, that she's sure of. Sakura chuckles quietly under her breath, turning to get her book.

Shizune's note is safely tucked into her pocket, and she's just contemplating the right way to do Asuma-sensei's essay when suddenly, her head _explodes_ with pain.

For a moment, she wonders if she's balancing on the brink of insanity and euphoria before it _hits._

Her bones collapse, non-existant, cadaverous, and she tumbles onto the floor. Her eyes blur and then her head is pounding, rhythmically and painfully as if a thousand needles are being weaved in and out of her scalp. Splotches of red begin to encompass her vision and then the muscles in her face are contorting, _twisting_. She's screaming silently and then suddenly-

_She's standing in a battlefield. The ground is hard and rough and burning and the trees are collapsing around her in rhythmic thumps and there's dead bodies everywhere and suddenly her hands are immersed in some guy's bloody chest and she's shouting and there's screaming and a decapitated head lands next to her and there's blood blood blood and is that _Naruto-

Sakura gasps, heaving heavily.

Her eyes snap open and she's back in the deserted hallway, all alone. Gradually, she begins to feel her legs again and her vision clears. Her head's still pounding but the pain has softened drastically. Her chest is still heaving though and she feels as if every breath she takes she is swallowing black slime.

Except she can still feel the blood on her hands even if they're clean and these aren't trees they're just _lockers_.

She stands up shakily, picking up the books that lay splattered around her. She stumbles for a second and her vision turns a splotchy green before she manages to reorientate herself. Her heart is still beating a million times an hour and she can still hear the screams, feel the blood, the panic, the terror-

Sakura blinks rapidly before she can finally focus on the book lying on the ground in front of her. _Advanced Calculus II._

She picks it up, stands up straight, fixes her tie and smooths out her skirt.

These hallucinations are not real, she reassures herself. The punch must have done more damage than she'd expected. That world is not true. _T__his _one is.

And so, she continues to class.

.

.

.

* * *

_Five Years Later_

"Hey Ino-pig," Sakura says brightly as she plops down next to her best friend.

Ino doesn't acknowledge her, simply currently glaring at her salad, spinning her fork around her fingers menacingly.

"Forehead-girl," she finally replies.

Sakura grins as she unwraps her sandwich, eyeing her friend's scowl.

"Shikamaru?" she asks innocently, casually maneuvering herself out of Ino's hitting range.

"That _bastard_," Ino hisses. In a flash she twirls her fork and slams it into the salad, breathing heavily.

"Woah," Sakura says, hands up in the air as she tries to suppress her grin. "Just asking."

Ino doesn't look pleased - not in the least. Sakura takes a bite of her sandwich, eyeing Ino from the corner of her eye. "Wanna rant?"

Ino grabs her fork and begins to stab her salad.

"I _hate" -stab- "_that _annoying" -stab- "_un_grateful" -stab- "_sonava_bitch!" - stab stab stab stab stab- "_Papa says he's going to be there 'indefinitely' and you know what that means? That means he's going to be there _forever! _I'm going to be stuck working with him _forever!"_

"Woah," Sakura repeats, finally giving into her grin. Ino continues to stab her salad with ferocity. Behind her, Hinata pauses at the door, eyeing the pair uncertainly.

"You're freaking people out Ino-Pig," Sakura says. Laughing - softly and subtly, of course - at Ino, Sakura waves Hinata over.

Hinata takes one look at Ino - and her decimated salad - and sighs.

"Shikamaru?" Hinata asks as she drops to her seat next to Ino.

"Yep," Sakura says happily.

Ino growls at them both and finally starts to eat her battered salad, shoving each mouthful violently into her mouth.

"You know," Hinata says cautiously, keeping an eye on the volatile blonde, "He _is_ very smart. It's no wonder your dad wants to keep him at the company. Together you'd make the best intelligence gathering team in Japan."

Ino turns her nose up snootily. "We already were."

Sakura smiled into her sandwich - Hinata always knew how to please people, not that it was that hard with Ino. Her best friend had the biggest ego she'd ever seen.

"Hold on," Hinata says, nudging Sakura, "Is that Tenten? From high school? With a _boy?_ On a date?"

Sakura quickly pinpoints the pair. Tenten had been in the year above them and had briefly collaborated with them on an arts project.

"Wait," Sakura says slowly, "Is that your _cousin?"_

Hinata's eyebrows shoot up. "Oh wow," she breathes.

Ino perks at the sound of that and whirls around. "Oh my god," she gasps, "That's Hyuuga Neji. _Hyuuga Neji._She is such a lucky bitch. Fuck. He is so hot."

"Ew," Hinata grimaces, "He's my cousin."

"Sorry," Ino says unapologetically, peering unabashedly at the pair before turning back to the pair. "Speaking of hot guys, did you know that Uchiha Sasuke is coming to Japan?"

Sakura freezes before blushing furiously. "Oh my god. No way. Really? To Tokyo? How many concerts is he doing?"

Ino grins, leaning forward with her newest piece of juicy information. "Four here, _and_ he's doing a meet and greet!"

"No way," Sakura repeats, blood rushing to her head, "Oh my god."

Ino's calm facade finally cracks and the two share a grin before squealing.

Hinata sighs, watching the two bounce up and down in their seats. "You guys..."

"Oh shush you," Ino says, waving her away, "Not all of us are lucky enough to meet our dream guy in high school. Speaking of Naruto, how is he? I haven't met him yet. I need to."

Hinata's cheeks tinge pink at this. "He's in America," she says dreamily, "He's overlooking the opening of his ramen restaurants there." Suddenly Hinata turns to her two friends, a gleam in her eye. "Speaking of which, when Uchiha Sasuke was doing his tour in Australia, he ate at one of Naruto-kun's restaurant in Sydney!"

Sakura and Ino freeze.

"No way. Now I _have _to meet him."

"Naruto that bastard... he never told me!"

Hinata grins, twirling her napkin innocently. "And..." she adds, "Apparently Karin went to high school with him."

Sakura freezes.

"Karin? The Karin we work with at Konoha hospital?"

"Yep," Hinata says, popping the 'p'. "She told me when she came over to the maternity ward."

"Well fuck," Sakura breathes, "I'm actually jealous of her."

Ino groans, stuffing her salad in her face. "This sucks," she bemoans, "I'm so out of things. The two of you going to highschool together, working at Konoha hospital together-"

"Different sectors!" Sakura pipes in.

Ino rolls her eyes and opens her mouth to retort when the TV in the cafe suddenly flickers on with a boom.

"Breaking news," the television speakers blare. The noise in the room simmers down as everyone turns to watch the coverage.

Sakura puts down her sandwich and scrapes her chair back to watch. Except suddenly her head is _on fire- _

And then the pain hits _again and again_ and her eyes glaze over and she's doubling in on herself-

_Blood again. Except this time they're on her gloves. She has scalpels - except they're like energy that just oozes from her hands. She's running forward, feral like a rabid cat, and she systematically slices person after person in half. The faces are blurred - as always - and she continues her relentless massacre when suddenly forest explodes and someone appears before her with dark blonde hair and the strangest hands-_

Sakura's eyes snap open.

"Oh my god," Hinata breathes.

"Yeah," Ino echoes.

Both are staring at the television which is switching between scenes of running people and police.

"What happened?" Sakura asks quickly. These hallucinations have been occurring ever since the rowdy senior punched her way back in her freshman year, and she's learnt to deal with them, to hide them. Hinata and Ino have gotten used to her 'blanking out', as they call it.

"Some crazy guy bombed the Sydney Opera House," Ino says in horror, "Collapsed half the structure. None dead – luckily – because of repairs going on in the wing. Luckily – _so luckily – _the workers had been on lunch break and- and-"

"-the area is being evacuated just in case more explosives are found in the vicinity," the reporter on the TV continues, "the bomb squad has been deployed and police are trying to empty the whole harbor. The perpetrator has still not been caught but police are investigating possible suspicious items including an unattended backpack..."

Sakura's head strikes again and she sees_ bombs - bombs going off everywhere and weird, animal-shaped clay-._

"-and they are also trying to locate a man whom witnesses have reported to have been acting suspiciously. He is described as having long blonde hair with blue eyes-"

_The bombs are getting closer but someone throws an arm over her shoulder. Suddenly, the man with the bomb appears in front of her and he's not alone. He's with someone shorter, with fiery red hair-_

"-with red clouds and an eye patch of some sorts-"

_The man chuckles and suddenly she has swords in her hands and she's fighting but she's clumsy and she doesn't know how to properly wield one so heavy-_

"-and if anyone has any information they are strongly encouraged to come forward. You can call CrimeStoppers on 1-800-"

* * *

"-have identified the bomber as a man under the alias of Deidara. CCTV footage indicate he was last seen at Milson's Point. All airports, docks and other transport links are being monitored with the strictest-"

_"_Sakura!'

Sakura jumps in her seat, switching the TV off before turning around.

"Ino," she says weakly, "You scared me. What are you doing in my clinic?"

"Tsunade let me in. I told her I was on official business and all that. Konoha hospital's not that hard to break into. Anyway, you won't _believe _this." She drops the magazine on top of Sakura's lap.

"Isn't that-"

"Uchiha Sasuke? Yep. He got to Tokyo a _whole week_ early."

"Hold on..." Sakura says slowly, "That means-"

"Yep!" Ino grins, "Uchiha Sasuke is here in Tokyo _right now."_

"That is _awesome," _Sakura says, leaning forward in her chair to inspect the magasine cover.

"Yep," Ino replies happily. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Sakura grins. "Stalk him?"

The two grin and high five, giggles overcoming them both. It's just what she needs to push the horrific incident of last week to the back of her mind.

"Anyway," Ino says, flipping her ponytail over her shoulder, "As enjoyable as this has been I need to head back. Papa'll chew my ass out if I'm late, even though Shikamaru never gets into trouble, that bastard. I'll call you later to organise the stalking."

Sakura grins and waves, leaning back in her chair. "Go on, go on."

"By the way," Ino adds as she leaves, "That's just like you to be sitting in your clinic watching TV during _lunch break_!"

Sakura rolls her eyes as the door shuts, picking up the magazine and scanning through the latest gossip. Looks like the Sand Siblings are starring in another spin off of their reality TV show. You would think that one family wouldn't hold the world's attention for that long but-

_Pain._

Suddenly her head is stabbing itself again, ricocheting across her vision. The magazine falls from her hand, the faces of Temari, Kankurou and Gaara staring up at her with blank smiles. Her vision blurs, and then there's-

_Blood mixed with gold and sand is everywhere in her eyes scratching her body and its flinging everywhere then it's a shield and there's a red-head and suddenly there's a man with dark hair and red red eyes and she's jumping onto the lake and her fingers are forming some sort of seal and the water's rising and is that _Karin-

Sakura gasps as her eyes snap open.

"Shit," she mutters. She quickly grabs the remote and switches the TV on again, placating herself with its monotonous tone.

"-continuing with our extended broadcast on this shocking event. Recapping the new information, the bomber has been confirmed as Deidara, a fanatic who is calling on others 'just like him' with the same 'strange powers' to 'escape this world and return to their own'. Police received a note from the missing bomber, detailing how he is supposedly so powerful with skills 'beyond their imagination' that they can never catch him and how there are others just like him. After the break we will speak to Dr. Andrew Brennan, a psychologist and an expert in criminal behavior..."

The screen switches to a car advertisement.

Biting her lip, Sakura eyes the TV. She's been thinking about getting a car, but she doubts she'll need it since Konoha Hospital is only ten minutes from-

Suddenly her head splits and her eyes star. Sakura begins to heave and rock backwards and forwards in her chair. Her hands begin to tingle and jolts shoot up and down her legs. Her muscles begin to spasm and she starts to choke, then this weird _powerful _feeling begins to flow through her veins and it's electrifying and soothing and-

But just as suddenly as the pain had appeared it disappears. Sakura coughs heavily, trembling as she clenches her fists. The strange feeling coursing through her veins is still there, but lighter, but at least the pain has mostly disappeared. Sakura curses and grabs some tissues, dabbing her forehead. She hasn't had such a strong reaction since her freshman year.

Her fingers begin to tingly from the strange feeling. Sakura reaches for the remote to shut off the TV _-_ buy one get one free - however an idea suddenly hits her.

Sakura stands up slowly and cautiously makes her way to in front of the television screen. What if she...

She takes a deep breath and begins to gather that strange feeling into her fingertips. It's surprisingly easy to control and she manages to direct a sharp hit-

She pokes the TV screen.

It _shatters._

* * *

_Two men in Tokyo_

In his luxurious, five star hotel, dressed to kill for his first media appearance, Uchiha Sasuke tenses.

In a small, desolated church on the border of Tokyo, Hidan smiles.

* * *

AN: So... now that I've gotten the customary scene setting out of the way... the real fun starts!


	2. Flowers of Candid

**AN: Well. Three days in and I'm updating. Surprise right? But I got really into it so yeah :) hope you guys enjoy! Lots of thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed/viewed :)**

* * *

**Flowers of Candid**

"...and if the symptoms continue after five days feel free to come and see me again. Any questions?"

The parents shake their head, the mum smiling in relief as she pats her little toddler. "Thank you Sakura-san. We were very worried."

Sakura pens them their prescription and hands it to them, giving them one last smile as they leave. It's been a tiring day - the flu season's just starting - and she's had no TV for the past week, but Sakura is feeling good. Sakura is feeling _great._

"Perfect timing," Sakura whispers, grinning as her clock ticks over to 12:10 - her lunch break.

Sakura shakes off her doctor's coat, swings her stethoscope off and heads straight for her goal – the coffee machine.

She prods it frantically, hitting random buttons, but it doesn't matter. The coffee is made and that's all she needs.

Behind the desk, the receptionist arches an eyebrow.

"In a rush?"

She waves at him non-committedly and grabs her coffee, rushing back to her office and locking the door.

"Finally," she breathes. She closes her eyes and steadies herself, sitting down quickly into her chair before placing her cup of coffee onto her desk.

"Alright," she reassures herself, "You can do it. Remember the order..."

She thinks back to one of her hallucinations and her hands form a shaky seal from the memory - _tiger. _Then, breathing in deeply, she tries to grab the feeling within her and continues - s_nake, rat, snake, tiger._

_"Suiton: Suijinheki," _she whispers.

Her cup begins to tremble, rattling on her desk before tentatively, the coffee begins to rise from her cup.

And it _works. _

The coffee forms a _wall_.

Sakura grins, breathing heavily as she tries to maintain the wall. A bead of sweat rolls down her forehead. But then the water starts to tremble and Sakura curses-

Her door slams open and Sakura jumps. The wall of coffee falls limply back into her cup.

"Ino," Sakura says, trying to bring her heartbeat back to normal, "You broke the lock. You need to pay for that."

Ino waves her comment away. "I'll talk to Papa. Your new TV's coming, by the way. I saw the guy downstairs."

"Right," Sakura says sheepishly. A bit of coffee has spilled over her notes and she hastily brushes them aside. She clears her throat, finally calming herself (that was a close call) and invites Ino to sit down.

Her friend does so graciously before shooting her a cheeky grin.

"You wanna know why I came here?"

Sakura grins back. "Let me guess. Bitching 'bout Shikamaru?"

"Cute," Ino says sarcastically, "But actually no. It's about Uchiha Sasuke."

"Really?" Sakura says distractedly. She begins to run through the order again in her head - tiger, snake, rat, snake, tiger - absentmindedly running through the hand signals under her desk. Honestly, Uchiha Sasuke pales in comparison to _this -_plus, her visions are coming less and less frequently ever since she's started experimenting with her new found power.

"Hey," Ino says accusingly, "You abandoning me? You're not interestdc in Sasuke-kun anymore?"

Sakura snaps out of her trance. "Sorry Ino-chan," she says sheepishly, "Just... tired. Go on?"

Ino pouts at her. "Anyway, like I was _saying, _Sasuke-kun _changed his schedule! _It was completely last minute but he's going to be performing at Hinani Stadium _next week!"_

"Hinani Stadium?" Sakura says skeptically, "The _tiny _one? Uchiha _Sasuke?"_

"I know," Ino says with a shrug, "I don't know why he picked that - I mean it's _tiny -_but who cares? It's a ten minute walk. A _ten minute walk Sakura!"_

There's a sharp knock on her door.

"Haruno Sakura?" A voice calls, "I'm here to install your TV."

Sakura gives Ino a smile. "I'll call you later okay?"

Ino rolls her eyes. "'Course. I'll go talk to Hinata then. Kicking me out already."

Sakura chuckles and opens the door, letting Ino out. The blonde gives her friend one last wave before turning to the TV installer.

"Weird," she mutters, "I could've sworn he was shorter. And blonde. Oh well!"

Sakura smiles at the man, letting him in before shutting the door behind him. He's wearing a large hat, hiding his face, but the little wisps of hair visible are a stark grey. He's in the customary uniform of _Tsuzuki Co._ but a large necklace dangles over his chest – it's bold and gold. A rosary perhaps?

He continues to work for a few minutes, but the silence is awkward and strained.

"So..." Sakura says quickly, uncomfortable in the silence, "That's a nice necklace you got there."

The man removes the wires from the box. "Yeah," he says, "It's for Jashin-sama - my religion."

"Oh," Sakura says, "That's great." She quickly drops the subject - she's never been a firm believer in anything, and she's always found such conversations to be awkward and out of her comfort zone.

"So," the TV man says casually, "How did you break your old TV?"

Sakura chuckles sheepishly. "I slipped and my cup flew and shattered it completely."

"Hmm," the TV man murmurs. "Interesting. Interesting. You see, I had the pleasure of disposing it, and the fracture pattern doesn't quite match."

Sakura frowns. "That's impossible. Tsunade-sama threw it out."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night..." the TV man murmurs quietly.

Sakura gulps. She's beginning to feel uncomfortable, scared even. She takes a quick glance through the window at her door. The hallway's empty - everybody having gone out for lunch, she supposes. Suddenly the air has become much more hostile and she's feeling a _lot _more vulnerable.

"What's your name?" Sakura asks slowly, inching towards her desk and her pocket knife.

He turns around and looks at her, crossing his arms, and that's when she notices his bulging muscles. The cap too is covering all of his distinguishing features and how- _fuck. He's not from Tsuzuki Co. is he?_

She lets out a small sigh of relief as she reaches her desk, grabbing her phone and her pocket knife.

"My name?" the TV man answers back with a chuckle. "You know me."

Sakura swallows harshly, sliding her pocket knife out of the holder and hiding it behind her.

"Oh really? Take off your cap."

He chuckles softly before he begins to shake, his chuckling turning into harsh laughter.

"Sakura, Sakura..." In a flash, he removes his cap.

And _oh kami _Sakura knows that face – that sleek silver hair, those sharp red eyes. That's-

"Hidan."

He grins.

"You've been watching the news?" he asks, stalking closer to her. His muscles are taught against his shirt and Sakura realises that he could probably pummel her in a second.

"Yes," she says cautiously. "Stay back."

"They still haven't caught Deidara you know," Hidan continues nevertheless. He begins to make his way towards her faster, feral grin on his face.

"Yes," she repeats. "And stay back. Stay _back. _I- I have a knife." Sakura waves it in front of her, her heartbeat quickly rising. Blood rushes through her and the adrenalin fills her, familiar and terrifying at the same time.

Hidan puts his arms up innocently, but his smile continues to twist and contort. Sakura shudders and grips her knife harder.

"They'll never catch him," Hidan says casually. Suddenly, he lunges at her, and a long-dormant instinct awakens in Sakura and she dodges, gathers up that familiar feeling in her fists and _punches._

Hidan flies back and crashes into her shelf. The wood splinters and flies, cutting into his skin. And then he _smiles._

"You've still got it bitch," he says with a laugh.

Sakura shakes, and she knows that he's going to get up - attack her - and her battle instinct kicks in and she lunges. _Incapacitate the enemy before they incapacitate you, _she remembers hearing.

So she lunges forward with her knife while Hidan just sits there waiting, _laughing,_and stabs him. Once, twice, and over and over and over.

"Stop princess," he finally says, grabbing her arm. "I'll never die."

Sakura screams and her head begins to pound. "No no no..." she murmurs, "Don't do this to me. This is real. _I _am real."

"_Listen," _he hisses, "You don't belong here. _None of us do. _And Deidara's going to get us _out. _You, me, Sasori, Kakuzu that bastard, even-"

He freezes. Sakura's chokes and trembles, distorted cries bursting from her lips.

"Uchiha's in the area," Hidan growls, followed by a string of curses.

"You're improving though," he says, "Good work with your chakra."

He drops her arm and Sakura drops to the floor, still shaking. He pulls the pocket knife from his chest - his _heart - _and drops it by her feet. "Keep on practicing," he says, "Good work there, you would've killed me if I were anyone else. Your memories will come back soon, if you keep playing with your chakra - knock down that barrier in your mind. Anyway, I'll be leaving now, your friends are here. Praise Jashin."

He stands up, grabs a few of her tissues and wipes the blood off his shirt. Sakura stares mutely at the floor, the stained blood dripping and staining her carpet. Her pocket knife lies next to her, little bits of Hidan's heart still caught in the handle.

Hidan grabs his cap from the flood and slides it on, obscuring his face once more.

"See ya later Sakura," he says calmly, "All hail Jashin."

He closes the door on her, leaving her shaking and trembling on the floor.

"That went well," he muses. As he exits the building, he passes by the girl from before and a Hyuuga.

"Hey! Thanks for installing Sakura's TV," the blonde calls.

Hidan smirks.

"The pleasure was all mine."

* * *

In the middle of an interview, Uchiha Sasuke curses. The interviewer looks completely affronted but Sasuke doesn't care. He felt that - that was Hidan and Sakura in the _same room_.

Looks like he'll need to move that concert forward a few days.

* * *

_Chakra, _Sakura muses, holding her cup of hot chocolate close to her face. Is this feeling... _chakra?_

She's directed it to her fingertips, and she's managed to move the water, but what else can she do with it? She tries to reach back into her visions and pluck out other hand signs or techniques, but she can't remember any specifics.

Growling, she places her cup back onto the stand. Maybe she should practice the water wall again...

_No. _Sakura shakes her head. She needs to broaden her horizons. Hidan said...

Why is she even listening to what Hidan said?

It's stupid, it's irrational, it's fanatical-

_It's true._

Sakura growls. Inner Sakura needs to _fuck. Off._

She grumbles and adjusts her position on the hospital bed. She's been in here for a day already, but the doctors aren't letting her out. She wasn't harmed for goodness sake, and she's perfectly _fine _mentally. At least she hopes so.

Sakura glances at the clock – 10:00. Ino would be coming over soon. In the meantime…

Sakura takes a deep breath and directs her... _chakra_... to her ears.

Suddenly, all sounds are enhanced. She can hear the footsteps in the hallways around her and the rustling of leaves and birds outside her window. Tsunade's voice floats in from a room down the hallway.

"...and the blood's still unidentified. We've figured out that it's a Caucasian male though - probably early twenties."

"So you can't figure out what happened?" That was Ino, sounded like.

"Not if Sakura doesn't talk."

"Damn. Well he didn't um... he didn't..."

"No."

"Thank god. This is all my fault. I noticed he was different - and the cap - I should've _known_-"

"It's not your fault Ino." Hinata. She was there too it seemed.

"She's right. At least all the blood was his."

"Yeah... no luck with CCTV footage? Facial recognition?"

"...sorry Ino."

There's a beat of silence then some shuffling, and Sakura hears the door close.

"This sucks," Ino murmurs.

"Yeah," Hinata agrees, "And right after the good news."

"Oh that's right," Ino says, "Naruto's doing a joint campaign with Fish'o'Fill right?"

"Yeah," Hinata says softly, "And he'd just met with Hoshigaki-san too. He'd even got Uchiha Corp. interested in his project."

"Mmm," Ino agrees.

Their footsteps stop outside her door and Sakura quickly mutes her chakra.

"Sakura?" Hinata calls softly, knocking on the door. "Are you awake?"

Sakura sighs, sinking into her bed. "Yes."

The door opens quietly. Hinata's head pops in and she gives her friend a small smile.

"How are you feeling?"

"Good," Sakura says quickly. Her eyes flutter to her hot chocolate and absentmindedly runs her fingers through the movements of the water wall again.

"Well," Ino says quickly, dragging a chair next to her bed and plonking down. "I've got some good news."

She slides over the newest issue of _Kunoichi Weekly. _Uchiha Sasuke is emblazoned on the front – and this time '_Competition' _is emblazoned over the cover in large font.

Sakura arches an eyebrow. "What's this?"

Ino smirks. "Uchiha Sasuke's holding a raffle – and being the lovely friend I am, I've bought us _ten tickets!"_

"Oh?" Sakura says softly, mustering a smile for her blonde friend. Honestly, Uchiha Sasuke is the last thing on her mind right now. "How many winners?"

"…five," Hinata says softly.

"But that doesn't mean we don't have a chance!" Ino says quickly, "And it'll be great – if we win, we get to go to his house - _his house! - _before his concert to meet him _personally - __the Uchiha Sasuke!"_

Sakura cocks a small smile. "When's the raffle being drawn?"

"Tonight. And I've even gotten permission from Tsunade to discharge you from the hospital to come over so we can watch it!"

"Great," Sakura says softly, "Great."

* * *

"Coffee? Again?"

Sakura smiles sheepishly. "Yeah. Thanks. Sorry about all that before though - I didn't mean for it to... yeah."

The receptionist raises an eyebrow, eyeing the shattered coffee cup on the floor.

"Yeah," he echoes, before sweeping up the broken fragments. "Don't worry about it though. After all the contributions you've made to this hospital Doctor Haruno, I'm quite happy to help out. That's why Tsunade-sama sent me over to help you."

"Thanks," Sakura says, giving him a small smile as he exits.

A certain attempt at _"Suiton: Suiryuden no Jutsu" _hadn't had the best effects. A dragon's head had emerged before the cup shattered, collapsing under the high pressure.

She would try again soon, but in the meantime she would work on another she had found - _"Doton: Doryuheki" - _which, from what she had managed to gather, performed a rather similar function to the water wall. But her list of repertoire to call on was diminishing - after she had beginning to experiment with her chakra her visions had decreased drastically.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura swings her legs over her bed, closing her eyes in concentration as her hands form those familiar seals - _Tiger - Hare - Boar-_

"Sakura?"

Sakura's eyes snap open before her chakra falters.

"Yes?" she asks with a sigh.

"Can I come in? It's Karin. I'm bringing you your coffee. The receptionist- ah... He can't make it at the moment."

"Alright," Sakura says, swinging back onto the bed to look like a dutiful hospital patient. The earth wall will have to wait.

Karin comes in with a friendly smile and Sakura tries to smile back. Even though the main feud is between Ino and Karin (caused by a certain incident during a barista course the three girls had attended), Sakura cannot help but feel a bit uncomfortable in the red-head's presence.

It's no matter though. She mutters a small thanks as she grasps the coffee cup, Karin looking at her in a peculiar way, arms crossed and glasses glinting.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura says, trying to fill the awkward silence with some conversation. "Is it your break?"

"Mm," Karin murmurs, continuing to eye her steadily.

_Well... this is awkward, _Sakura thinks. She raises the coffee cup to her lips to drink - anything to avoid continuing the conversation - when suddenly, the receptionist bursts through the door.

"Sakura," he says quickly, and then immediately he's by her side, coaxing the coffee cup from her fingers. Karin scowls.

"You can't have any more coffee," he says.

"Yes she can," Karin says, pinning him with a steady glare.

"No," he maintains, "she can't. I'll get you water. _I'll _get you water."

Karin glares at him before turning tail and fleeing out of the door.

Then, the receptionist turns to Sakura.

"Sorry," he says with a shrug, "Tsunade's orders."

And then he leaves.

* * *

**AN: So - second chapter completed! I was so excited about this I did it in three days - as you can see. ****I'll try to update in a few days, but I've been pretty busy so it might take a week :(**

**Anyway, anyone have any ideas about what should happen next? Which character do you want me to bring in next? Hidan's had his go... and who's the receptionist? How did Hidan get in? Ideas? Theories?**

**Let me know and review :)**


	3. Flowers of Guile

**AN: So... EARLY UPDATE! This was exciting to write, so I hope you guys enjoy!**

**Thanks to all those that reviewed: Piekiller, Guest, Sincerely Athena, cutehoney4, Sidereum Nocte, Poppy Grave Dreams, Hana-Taisho, UndeadKitty, la canelle, Infinite Nosferatu, and all those who favourited/followed!**

* * *

**Flowers of Guile**

Sakura figures she has about ten minutes before Ino comes to pick her up.

"Haruno-san?"

She quickly stands up and makes her way over to the receptionist.

"It's weird seeing you as a patient rather than a doctor," he says wryly.

"Yeah," Sakura says with a small sigh.

"Well then," he says, handing her her forms, "You're free to go."

"And about time too!" she hears Ino call. The blonde waltzes in through the hospital doors, nose upturned.

"Thanks Kakuzu-san," Ino says, flashing the receptionist a grin before linking her arm through Sakura's, who sighs, mutters a quick thank you and hurries out after Ino.

"You'll be back tomorrow," Ino says, "But that doesn't matter. I've got a good feeling about the raffle."

Funny, Sakura thinks, because she has a very _bad_ feeling about it.

"So. Do anything fun while I was gone?" Ino asks.

_Perfected the water wall. Had a few more visions. Managed to slice my bed sheets with my chakra. Nearly lit something on fire. Walked up a fucking wall._

"No."

"Of course," Ino nods sagely, "It's the hospital after all."

Sakura gives her a small smile. "How's Shikamaru by the way?"

Just as planned, Ino begins a tyrant on Shikamaru and Sakura does her best to drone her out in favour of concentrating on her chakra.

It's remarkably easy to control and she's much more aware of it now than she was before. She begins to fluctuate it, flaring and muting, directing it to different parts of her body, testing her control. She's been getting good at enhancing her hearing, amongst other things - the wall walk had been done by directing her chakra to her feet, and when she cut her bed sheets – that had been a product of directing it sharply to her hands.

She decides to experiment and slowly lets some chakra filter into her foot.

Suddenly, the ground beneath her _cracks._

Ino gasps and reaches forward but Sakura's stumbling and tumbling, falling forwards and forwards-

She crashes into a _high schooler._

_Oh kami, _Sakura thinks, _I just crushed some little kid._

Ino's screaming behind her jolts her back into reality and she quickly scrambles up. Underneath her, a red haired boy who looks seventeen - at the oldest - brushes himself off and stands up.

"I'm so sorry," Sakura gushes, "I didn't mean to-"

"Be careful," he says quietly, interrupting her. And his voice has the strangest quality to it – something which screams of age beyond his years. "Hebi is trying to kill you."

Sakura freezes. "Wait. What?"

He continues to eye her steadily, mechanically, robotically, sending jolts of fear up her spine.

"What?" Sakura repeats, slightly hysterical, "_What did you say?"_

"Hebi," he says calmly, detached, "But maybe you're on their side. You're a wildcard Haruno Sakura. And I advise you _choose. _Them or us. And if it's them… we'll come for you."

He begins to walk away and Ino's coming towards them but Sakura's confused as _shit _and this fucking _high school student-_

"Who are you?" Sakura calls out desperately.

But he doesn't reply, giving her a simple wave in response.

Ino barrels into her a second later, checking her for injuries and fussing over her, obscuring her view of the boy.

All she can make out is a thin, purple ring.

* * *

"Chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla?"

Ino holds plants the three tubs of ice cream in front of Sakura.

Sakura stares.

_Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. _

This is what she _needs._

"Why not all three?"

Ino grins and plops down onto the couch next to her. "And _this, _is why we're best friends."

Sakura grabs the chocolate tub and opens it quickly, shoving one large spoonful in her mouth.

"These are our tickets," Ino says, placing them down in front of them as she switches the TV on. "The ten codes on our tickets are Sharingan 41-46 Madara 5-7 and Hebi 1."

Sakura freezes and the ice-cream tub clatters to the floor.

"Hey!" Ino says disgruntledly as she bends down and quickly grabs the tub and her spoon. "What's wrong with you?"

But all Sakura can think of is _Hebi Hebi Hebi Hebi _and the little boy she'd bumped into earlier.

"_Sakura?"_

And then her eyes are clouding over and suddenly she's on a _fucking crater and her hands are glowing green again and a silver-haired man who's half fucking snake is sneering and then he's laughing at her, criticising her- chakra scalpels?- and then someone else appears in front of her with blonde hair but he's glowing with so much chakra he's golden and then they're both so _fast-

Sakura jolts back to reality.

"-oh my god Sakura Sakura Sakura it's starting it's starting-_"_

Sakura stares at the TV screen, still too shocked to do anything. The program's starting with another update on the bombings in Sydney and the chasing of the suspect, as well as his psychological problems. All Sakura can think however, is that they _still haven't caught him _and why is he wearing that _ring _in that picture-

The newsbreak finishes and Uchiha Sasuke appears on the screen. Next to her, Ino squeals.

"The winners_," _Uchiha Sasuke says gravely, and Sakura can start to feel fear creeping up her spine and _why does it feel like he's talking to her?_

"Sharingan 43-" Next to her Ino begins to hyperventilate and squeal and cry "-Madara 14, Madara 58, Kusanagi 106 and-"

Sakura knows what he's going to say before he does.

"Hebi 1."

And now Ino's screaming even louder because they've _both _just won but Sakura' fucking terrified because this has _got to have been rigged _but how and why and what is this _Hebi?_

Ino envelops her in a giant hug, but all Sakura can think is-

_I'm screwed._

* * *

Ino dutifully escorts Sakura back to the hospital, giving the receptionist – Kakuzu – a flirtatious wink before leaving.

Sakura on the other hand, decides to ditch her hospital bed to make a visit to her office – and her laptop. Feeling embarrassedly enough as if she were part of Twilight, she quickly types in _Hebi_ to the search bar.

Unfortunately for her, her laptop doesn't reveal the all-knowing answers she had hoped for. The first few results are that of Uchiha Sasuke's competition, and a few scrolls down she gets an arcade game and a seafood restaurant.

Sakura sighs and kicks back her chair, deciding to flip on her TV. She has remarkably not much to do, especially since Tsunade has excused her from working these few days. It won't be soon until someone comes and finds her, and it's not as if she can't watch some TV in her hospital room, but she likes her office better – its ambience, its familiarity.

Even if there's still a slight bloodstain in the corner from… _the incident. _

The TV switches to a news update and Sakura leans deep into her chair, frowning as she ponders the strange word of the high school student.

"Suspected sighting of the Sydney bomber in Taiwan-"

He was short, Sakura remembers, and had red hair. She couldn't place exactly the colour of his eyes – all she could remember was that they looked glassy, mechanical.

"-the suspicious backpack has been confirmed as being not a danger. Police are stumped on what actually caused the bombs-"

-and his _ring. _Where had she seen that before? It seemed hauntingly familiar. But maybe it wasn't purple. Maybe it was something Ino had given her.

"-actually, we are just receiving some breaking news-"

But then again, Naruto had always had the weirdest taste in jewellery. Maybe it was he that had given it to her. Speaking of the blonde, she hadn't seen him since their last high-school reunion a year ago. Hinata should be able to get her his new contact details – now that he's all up and famous.

"-the police are now investigating this suspicious package, with members of the bomb-squad being called in-"

There's a sharp knock on the door.

Sakura sighs. Not even five minutes and Tsunade's already sent someone looking for her.

"I'm coming," she groans, heaving herself off her chair. "Even though I'm fine, you know. I don't need to be hospitalised. I'm a doctor. I should know. Really."

The door opens. Karin stands outside, eyebrow cocked.

Sakura flushes. "Hi," she says quickly.

"-the package now having been identified as safe to open, the police are, as we speak, opening-"

"Come on," Karin says, jerking her head, "Let's get you to bed."

She walks into her office and picks up Sakura's laptop.

"You can even take this," she says wryly, "Now come on. _Kakuzu-san's _waiting outside." For a second, a scowl flashes over her face but it disappears just as quickly and she shoots Sakura a winning smile.

"-contains a note made by newspaper clippings-"

"Alright," Sakura says, quickly grabbing a few snacks from her office drawers – after all, hospital food she does acknowledge may not be the best. She pauses for a second and quickly grabs her coffee mug. Karin sighs and taps her foot impatiently.

"-and it reads 'Stop. If you do not, there will be consequences.' The police have confirmed the sender as sociopath Deidara, and an inside source reports that the letter was addressed to 'Hebi'-"

Sakura freezes and the cup of coffee clatters to the floor.

With a flash Karin has the remote in her hands, and the TV snaps off.

And suddenly, Karin's in front of Sakura, eyes glinting. She looks angry, even feral and - _is Karin making seals?!-_

* * *

Hinata sighs, rubbing her friend's forehead with a warm towel. Sakura and Naruto had been trouble ever since she befriended them in school. This sort of occurance wasn't unusual, but so many times in a month? Her friend needed to start taking care of her body better.

Sakura's eyes slowly drift open.

"Hinata-chan?" she murmurs.

"Hey," Hinata whispers.

Sakura tries to sit up before wincing, hand reaching up for her forehead. Hinata pats it away gently, making sure the IV is in place before helping her friend sit up.

"What happened?" Sakura says with a grimace.

"You fainted," Hinata says regretfully. "Karinfound you collapsed on your desk. It must've been the stress. How are you feeling anyway?"

"Terrible," Sakura groans. "But I'm glad she found me – I mean I must've been watching TV when it happened. Who knows how long it would've taken for someone to stumble on me. And what time is it- it looks really dark outside."

"About eight," Hinata says, "You've been out for a while. But Karin offered to take care of you for a while – at least until I got off work."

"Wow. Thanks," Sakura says, "I never knew Karin would be so nice."

"Yeah," Hinata echoes, "I mean, she was in here with you for up till around an hour ago. And she wouldn't let _anyone _in – not until she made sure you were alright!"

"Wow," Sakura repeats, slightly dumbfounded. Who would've thought Karin of all people would be so nice?

"Anyway," Hinata says softly, eyes downcast as she fidgets in her lap, "I... I don't think you should go to Uchiha Sasuke's house tomorrow."

And Sakura's just about to nod in agreement – after all, she feels horrible – but then something in her mind just _clicks-_

"Hinata!" she shouts scandalously, "Of course not. I have to go. I must go to Uchiha Sasuke's."

"But your health-"

"I have to go!" Sakura repeats, almost robotically, "I have to go. I have to go. I have to go."

Hinata flinches back, withdrawing away from the pink-haired girl.

"Sakura?" she says tentatively, "Are you alright?"

"Yes," Sakura says mechanically, "I will go to Uchiha Sasuke's."

"A-alright," Hinata whispers quickly. "Alright. You just look a bit- glassy, I mean, that is- out of it- I mean- I'll just go now."

She quickly stands up, shoots Sakura a weird half smile half wince before quickly leaving.

Sakura sits on the bed, still slightly dazed and confused. What had just happened? Her head's still quite foggy, and she can't seem to make sense of things.

But there's one thing which sticks out more than the others – almost as if it had been handpicked – and that's the fact that she _must _go to Uchiha Sasuke's tomorrow.

* * *

Ino picks her up from the hospital. An intern is at the receptionist desk and keeps on stumbling over Sakura's files in the excitement that the two are going to meet _the _Uchiha Sasuke.

Sakura's not that excited, but she knows that she _must _go no matter what.

Ino's slightly disappointed that Kakuzu-san isn't there (Sakura suspects she has a slight crush on him), but she takes joy in the fact that Karin is nowhere to be found either (a fact that Sakura secretly rejoices in, because she doesn't think she can take another one of their fights).

Ino explains their plan – they're to go to her house, get dressed, yaddi-yaddi-ya – while the intern keeps on stuffing up her forms.

"I'll do it," she hears her mentor sigh.

Sakura gives Tsunade a warm smile which doesn't quite reach her eyes.

"Tsunade-shishou," she greets.

Tsunade narrows her eyes. "Are you alright Sakura? You look blank and your eyes are glassy. Are you sure you can go?"

"Of course," Ino cuts in quickly, "She's _fine. _Plus, he's Uchiha Sasuke. He's got medical staff who can rush in at a press of a finger."

Tsunade purses her lips. "I've heard bad things about him," she says gravely as the intern behind her gasps, affronted. "I hear his mansion is very isolated, and that it barely has reception, _plus _no cameras. You never know. He could be growing an illegal garden there. Full of drugs."

"You're too paranoid," Ino sighs, rolling her eyes, "Sasuke-kun's just a very private person."

Tsunade is still frowning but she signs off Sakura's forms. "Very well then," she says with a sigh, "It should be safe. He won't do anything to tarnish his reputation. Off you two go then."

Ino grins, showing her pearly whites. "Great!"

Sakura simply repeats – "I must go to Uchiha Sasuke."

* * *

Sakura feels strangely out of place.

They're standing on the sidewalk outside of Ino's place, dressed up to perfection. Ino is rechecking her makeup using the reflection of her phone. The two of them look like they belong in a Hollywood movie set.

Except all around them, _high schoolers _are rushing past. It's three thirty and all of the kids from around the area are rushing here and there, meeting up and grabbing ice cream.

"He should be here soon," Ino whispers before glaring at a young middle schooler who barely avoids crashing into the blonde – the blonde in six inch heels.

"He won't be late," Sakura reassures, "Uchiha Sasuke would never hire a tardy chauffeur."

"True that," Ino says, "Sasuke-kun's too good for that."

As if on cue, a black limousine turns around the corner. For a second, all the kids around them pause to admire the vehicle.

"We were supposed to be transported individually," Ino whispers to her in excitement, "But I requested we be put together!"

Sakura smiles automatically.

The limousine is just pulling up when a kid barrels into her and she flies back, stumbling into the bushes behind.

Ino shrieks with horror, and Sakura can hear her heels scraping against the sidewalk, but the kid is gone in another second.

"Who was that?!" Ino shrieks.

Sakura shrugs, only recalling the kid's flare of red hair. Ino scrambles to her side, pulling her up-

But then she stumbles back again, and suddenly it feels as if her mind is twisting, contorting, pulling itself apart and piecing itself together again.

Vaguely she registers that Ino is now the only force keeping her standing, but her mind is too busy being consumed by this haze – _expelling _this haze-

And then suddenly, Sakura sees clearly.

She _sees. _

But her mind is still whirling, and she can't hear anything clearly. She sees the limousine pull up, the chauffeur opening the door and helping her inside, the only eye visible from behind his mask crinkled in a smiling lilt.

Ino climbs in after her and then the limousine takes off.

Finally, a minute into the drive, does Sakura regain all of her senses.

And then the fear hits, and she suddenly recalls a strange dream she had about some TV report, some letter about Hebi, and the words of the red-haired boy – _the same red-haired boy! _

"We look _stunning," _Ino breathes.

"Yeah," Sakura says instinctively, but inside she's _fucking terrified. _

* * *

The whole drive, Ino _oohs _and _aahs _at the scenery.

And it is nice. They're driving a long way away from civilisation, past some beautiful scenery.

Doesn't stop it from scaring the _shit _out of Sakura.

But there's no reason to back out. And she can't now anyway. There's no reason to be worried. Nothing will go wrong. It's just Uchiha Sasuke, and his insanely private mansion.

No reason to be worried.

Yeah.

"We're here," the chauffeur says. Ino grins, but Sakura can't even manage a smile.

"Arigatou Hatake-san," Ino says smoothly, quickly filling in for Sakura. Ino's keeping it together a lot better, but it's no surprise though, Sakura supposes, considering she works for an Intelligence Gathering Agency and _hasn't been bombarded with supernatural powers and weird people who won't die and fucking _Hebi.

Kami. She's going crazy.

Hatake opens the door and helps them out. The mansion in front of them is large and decorated to perfection. Ino of course is already gushing about the decorations but Sakura can't bring herself to care anymore.

She feels as if she is walking towards certain death.

Hatake brings them up a spiralling driveway before exchanging a few words with the butler.

Ino is still gushing about everything and Sakura manages to nod a few times. Her hands are clammy and she's shaking. Inside, her chakra is flaring like crazy and she's too frazzled to suppress it.

Hatake brings them inside, inciting a new round of _oohs _and _aahs _from Ino. The room is grand, with high ceilings and chandeliers and candles, but all Sakura can think about is how she could be killed – crushed by the chandelier, impaled by the weapon ornaments on the walls, burnt to death by the candles-

"You may stay in the waiting room," Hatake says, jolting Sakura from her thoughts. "With the other winners."

Ino nods enthusiastically and links her arm through Sakura's, pulling the other girl through the doors.

Another wave of fear passes through Sakura as she enters and she doesn't know why she feels so fucking _unsafe-_

"_Karin?" _Ino screeches.

_Really? _Sakura thinks. _I can't deal with this right now. _

Ino pulls Sakura close. "Can you believe it? _Karin _is here! That _bitch!"_

Karin sneers back and the two start to engage in another fight.

Karin had gone to high school with Sasuke – that Sakura knew. Maybe the raffle _was_ rigged.

Another wave of fear passes through her and Sakura can feel herself beginning to wobble.

_No. _

_I have to stay strong._

Sakura stiffens her spine and looks around the room, surveying her surroundings. She prepares her chakra, if she really needs to fight. There is Ino, arguing with Karin. The other two winners are-

_Boys?_

One silver-haired one with sharp teeth, leering at her with a grin. The other a large, orange-haired man, nearly two heads taller than Sakura.

Ino hasn't noticed.

And that is when she _knows. _

This is dangerous. These are not the 'winners'. This is not what it looks like. Not at _all-_

Behind her the doors swing open.

"Welcome to my house," Uchiha Sasuke smiles.

* * *

**Well... that escalated quickly. Who do you think Sakura's going to meet next? Who were the other winners?**

**Hope you enjoyed and review! Your comments motivate me to write :)**


	4. Interlude - Flowers of Verity

**AN: Apologies that this is a bit shorter than the others - but! I have a reason:**

**I was writing this chapter and it turned out so long that I decided to cut it into two! So while you did wait a long time just for this...the next one will be out SOON!**

**Thanks to my lovely reviewers: rawr, Genny4, la canelle, cutehoney4, Love Is a Myth, Sincerely Athena, alice Orihara Scarlet, PieKiller, and everyone else who favourited/followed**

* * *

"Welcome to my house," Uchiha Sasuke smiles.

Sakura freezes.

In front of her, Ino and Karin squeal while the two boys sigh, rolling their eyes.

_Definitely _not winner material.

But more importantly - Uchiha Sasuke is standing in front of them dressed in fucking _fighter _gear with a_ gigantic sword in his belt._

"I apologise for the attire," he says, with a smile that borders deranged. "I was at a photoshoot."

_Bullshit bullshit bullshit. __Photoshoot my ass._

This is_ dangerous._

Sakura begins to make her way towards Ino, one eye on the two men, the other on Uchiha Sasuke.

_"_Ino," she hisses, "We need to get out of here."

"What are you talking about?" Ino whispers back dazedly, eyes fixated on Uchiha Sasuke in all his glory. His white shirt is open, exposing his chest, and the whole attire is wrapped together by some sort of purple rope. But Sakura is beyond caring. She's seen many fine specimens as a doctor anyway, and the old appeal Uchiha Sasuke had has completely dissipated now.

"This is dangerous," she repeats, "Ino. Please we _have to-"_

"Is there a problem?" Uchiha Sasuke cuts in. He's standing in front of her now.

_How did he get there so fast?_

And suddenly she notices that the other three 'winners' have positioned themselves around Sakura and Ino in a circle, almost as if they're ready to attack-

"No," Sakura says quickly, "No problem."

And then Uchiha Sasuke smirks.

"I beg to differ."

And suddenly his eyes turn red and Ino_ collapses _and then the other three 'winners' who are _not fucking winners _are reaching for her-

Sakura brings chakra to her hands and _slices. _The shorter boy howls then turns into fucking _water _and now Karin has _daggers _out-

"Hebi. Stand down." Uchiha barks.

Hebi.

_Hebi._

Sakura shakes, mind pounding, but Uchiha Sasuke has his sword out, and pointed at her face.

And there's no way that _that _is some photo shoot prop.

"Who are you?" Sakura asks softly. Her heart is pounding at a million miles an hour, fear clouding her head. But there's something else there too. A familiarity, a jolt of adrenaline, a hidden _fighter._

"Uchiha Sasuke," he answers back cockily. "You love me. Now come. Come with me and leave Akatsuki. I know they have their claws in you but-"

And then Sakura _jumps. _He's not expecting it, and that's why she manages to punch him _right in the face. _

He flies back, and for a millisecond Sakura is hopeful, even smug-

But then Hebi pounces.

The shorter boy? Water boy? Is on her in an instant and he grabs her hands, spinning her around and pushing her onto her knees. His fingers grab hers and pries them apart, preventing her from making anymore seals. Then Karin - _fucking Karin _- is on her next and she grabs her head, tilting it back.

The taller boy bends down next to her and begins pushing Ino's body away from the centre of the room.

"Don't touch her!" Sakura shouts.

Karin wrenches her head back further, exposing her neck to the open air and nearly cutting off her air stream.

Sakura begins to struggle and gasp for air. Uchiha Sasuke reorientates himself and stalks towards her. The water boy further bends her fingers, and she can _hear_ them crack. She's completely at their mercy.

"I see you're still loyal to them then," Sasuke snarls, and then his eyes turn _red._

It's a horrible sight, a familiar sight, and pounds and pounds of fear are beginning to swarm her vision. The lack of air is getting to her already and Sakura can barely think.

"You must be disposed of," he says, a strange glint in his eyes.

And then, eyeing her carefully, he grabs his sword and slides it out.

"You _love _me," he hisses, and then he swings.

Sakura closes her eyes - _she can't watch this - _and she knows death is breathing down on her-

"_Foolish little brother_."

Sakura's eyes snap open.

A man stands before her, a small, knife-like weapon countering Sasuke's large sword. He has dark hair, sharp cheekbones, _just_ _like_ Sasuke's but he's dressed in a suit and _why is so familiar?_

And _how the fuck did he get here?_

Sasuke steps back, and the man in front of her glances back for a millisecond.

And Sakura realises that he's _Uchiha fucking Itachi, _CEO of Uchiha Corporations – and Sasuke's brother.

And he's got chakra too. _Everyone_ in this room has chakra.

And then his eyes bleed red into the same, hauntingly terrifying pattern.

"You bastard-" Sasuke begins, but he's cut off as all around her, Hebi drop to the floor unconscious. Sakura wrenches her head forward, gasping for air.

Her fingers have been broken - she's sure of it - which leaves her completely defenseless. Is Uchiha Itachi friend or foe?

She doesn't know, but what she _does _know is that the only way to guarantee her safety is _get the hell out of here. _

But Ino's here too, and there's no way she's leaving her best friend to fend off _madmen. _And what about Karin? Since when was Karin- _this?_

Itachi turns back to Sasuke.

"I thought I told you leave her alone."

Sakura's head shoots up.

_What?_

"You also told me to stop chasing you," Sasuke says, normally as if this was a conversation about the _weather._ "And now look. _You're _chasing _me_."

"So that's it then, little brother," Itachi says softly, "You want to fight."

And then he turns to Sakura.

Her eyes lock onto his red ones, almost as if commanded by a divine force.

But then she's _paralysed- _

He lifts two fingers and taps her forehead.

Sakura topples backwards, Sasuke's enraged screams the last thing she hears before she tumbles into oblivion.

* * *

"_Madara's secured the hachibi."_

_Across from the Raikage, the other war leaders break into nervous chatter. Sakura shares a quick glance with Gaara._

"_So what do we do then?" Onoki asks, slamming his folder shut with finality. "There's no hope."_

"_That's not true," Sakura interrupts quickly, temper flaring. "Naruto is here."_

"_Naruto is only a boy," Onoki shoots back._

_Sakura opens her mouth to reply, but Mei cuts in first. _

"_Not the only hope," she says gravely._

_The other leaders silence. _

"_Chojuro bumped into Hoshigaki Kisame last night," she explains softly._

"_He's reanimated! So what!" A says, rolling his eyes._

"_So _listen," _Mei says. "He – and the rest of the Akatsuki under Pein – are reanimated, and Uchiha Itachi has managed to give them free will."_

_There is a beat of silence. Sakura's heart hammers against in her chest. What is the Mizukage suggesting?_

"Free will?" _Tsunade says icily. _

"_Yes," Mei repeats, leaning forward conspiratorially. "Free will. And if you recall, before Pein died – he had a certain change of heart. Which means-"_

"_Akatsuki is fighting on our side," Tsunade breathes._

_For a moment, the whole congregation is silent, digesting the news, the _hope.

"_Wait! Wait!" Onoki says quickly, "How do we know we can trust them? There's no time to figure out all the technicalities on that side when we need to figure out how to get to Madara!"_

"_I will appoint my best on it," Tsunade says, "You need not worry. She will be able to do it."_

_And then she turns back and grins at Sakura._

_"Won't you, Sakura?"_

_._

"_She looks like a ragdoll."_

_Sakura grins and slowly taps her finger on the desk, little miniscule cracks appearing before the whole structure splits open neatly into two halves._

"_What were you saying?" She asks delicately, crossing her legs before raising an eyebrow._

"_Ooh," Deidara calls, _"_Burn!"_

"_I told you so," Sasori says calmly from his place behind the desk. "She did kill me."_

_Sakura flushes. _

"_Um- well that is I- sorry about that."_

_Sasori shrugs before pinning her with a blank stare. _"_No. You deserved it. You were good. Perhaps, in another life, I would have taken you up as an apprentice. What is your name?"_

"_Haruno Sakura," Sakura says with a small smile. "I'm-"_

"_Seventeen, recent ANBU graduate. Medical kunoichi. Field. Specialises in poisons. Average chakra reserves, perfect control. Second smartest in your year."_

_Sakura stares at Itachi._

"_I don't know whether to be creeped out or impressed."_

"_Yeah," Kisame seconds, "That sounded really stalkerish."_

"_Poisons…" Sasori muses._

_Itachi turns up his nose. "I, unlike you imbeciles, simply did my research into who would be corresponding with us."_

"_A wise and practical move," Konan says quickly before anyone else can respond, "Now, if we may drop the subject, I would like to talk to the only other female I have worked with in a good thirty years."_

_Sakura grins and bounds over to Konan. Pein even looks a bit affronted. _

"_This is going to be a blast," Deidara grins, leaning back into his chair with a contented sigh. _

_Sakura can't help but agree. _

_._

"_Who's this?" Hidan asks, nudging the dead body with his foot. _

_Deidara takes one look at the corpse and scowls. _

"_I'll tell you who. That's Orochimaru!"_

"_Silence you," Sasori says, pushing past him. He leans down and carefully lifts up the corpse. "We need to take this back to base."_

_Deidara sighs and scoops down, picking up the dead body and slinging it over his shoulder._

_"Disgusting," he spits, "I'll call over my bird now-"_

"_Wait," Itachi says, holding a hand up. He turns to the bushes, sharingan eyes pinpointed on a spot. "I know you're there. You can come out."_

_Sakura blushes and undoes her genjutsu._

_"Jashin-sama," Hidan whispers, his eyes widening. _"You _did this?" Then he grins. "Bitch's got some fight in her after all."_

_Kakuzu sighs and swats his partner over his head. "Language," he chastises before turning to Sakura. _"_Since you did do that - and thanks for the bounty, by the way - it _would_ be appropriate if you took the ring." _

_Sakura tilts her head questioningly. _"_What?" _

"_The ring," Kakuzu repeats impatiently, "Take it. You killed him, you take it."_

_Deidara nods and drops the body back onto the ground, inspecting it before retrieving a ring and handing it over to Sakura._

_She takes it gingerly, inspecting it - __it's pale blue and the kanji 'sky' is engraved on the band._

_It's Orochimaru's old Akatsuki ring - a symbol of memborship for the group._

_"Wow," she breathes. _

_Her heart's hammering, but it isn't- it isn't a bad feeling._

_It's a good feeling._

_A great feeling._

_A feeling of liberation, of freedom, of happiness._

_Of teamwork, of friendship. Of belonging._

"_You're one of us now," Deidara grins._

_._

"_Who?" Sakura asks hollowly. _

_Tsunade purses her lips before walking forwards and pushing Sakura into the chair. _

"_Sakura," she says slowly, "You can't let yourself be distracted, especially at such a volatile ti-"_

"Who."

_Tsunade swallows harshly before placing a firm and on her apprentice's shoulder. _

"_Ino."_

_Sakura bursts into tears._

_ They flow relentlessly down her face and she's sobbing, collapsing into that seat. She doesn't think she can even hold herself together physically anymore because Ino - her_ Ino-

_The tears begin flowing even faster and Tsunade looks torn between comforting and uncomfortable, but Sakura can't bring herself to care because __all she feels inside is-_

Fucking empty.

.

"_This is our time," Pein says slowly._

_In front of him, the Akatsuki incline their heads. _

"_I'll miss you," Sakura whispers brokenly."I want to come with you."_

"_No," Itachi says, "It is _Akatsuki's _time."_

_It is their time, Sakura knows, and it is also Naruto's time. _

_Except it is Naruto's time to shine, and Akatsuki's time to _die_. _

_After all, that was why they were sent to hold off Madara and Kabuto while Naruto took on the juubi. _

_._

"_What is he doing?" Sakura breathes shakely._

"_I don't know," Itachi hisses. "I don't _fucking _know."_

_That is the first time Itachi has sworn in front of her – of course, there had been the time when he'd lost the chess game to Shikamaru, and it had only been a half an hour game, but Shikamaru had been forced to go into his thinking pose because his queen had been taken-_

I'm going mad, _Sakura thinks deliriously, _Uchiha Madara's planning our demise and I'm thinking about _chess._

"_Everyone's still here right?" she asks tentatively, reaching out, "Are you still here?"_

"_Yes," Pein says quietly, reaching out and clasping Konan's hand in his. "We're all here."_

_Then suddenly, Itachi's Susanoo shakes and begins to crumble. _

"_Fuck," Deidara swears. _

"_What is he doing?" Sakura repeats, nearly hysterical. "_What is he doing?!"

"_Planning your end," Uchiha Madara laughs, his voice reverberating through the area._

"_Where is he?" Sasori says, opening another scroll and summoning his last remaining puppets._

"_I don't know," Kisame groans, "Sameheda can't feel him _anywhere."

_"What are you doing?" Pein calls out._

"_It's just a little jutsu of mine," Madara giggles, "An Uchiha secret." _

_Next to her, Itachi stiffens. _

"_No," he hisses, "You _can't- _not without-"_

"_Another sharingan," Madara hisses with glee. _

"_What's happening," Sakura repeats. Kakuzu bites his lip before leaning over her and compressing her wound tighter. _

"_You're losing too much blood," he says, "You're going delirious."_

_But Sakura just looks at Itachi, pleading for answers. _

_Finally, he says - "He's going to take us somewhere worse than death."_

_Akatsuki is silent. _

_Then Pein asks gravely - _"_Where?" _

"_Out of this world."_

"_But-"_

"_He can't. Not without another pair of mangekyou sharingan. And I won't- I would _never-"

_But then Sakura's head rolls, and she peers out the bones of Susanoo and sees-_

"_Sasuke?"_

_._

_I'm dead, _Sakura realises.

_I'm dead. And I'm in another reality._

_This is not my reality._

_This is someone else's. _

_I am not _this_ Haruno Sakura._

_But-_

_Shh._

This_ Haruno Sakura is waking._

Sakura opens her eyes.

She is in a hospital bed, an IV dripping from her arm. Her room is empty, but she recognises Ino's favourite handbag lying on the visitor seat.

Ino.

Is her friend really Ino? The Other Sakura's Ino is dead.

Who is she?

She had always thought that Inner was a split personality, a little disorder she had had.

But Inner isn't Inner. Inner is real.

Inner is Haruno Sakura, and _she – _she is Inner.

_Yes._

_Accept it. _

_And become one._

* * *

**AN: So. You have some answers... the rest - they'll come later. This is not the end, just to clarify - I have so much more planned! **

**And in answer to questions regarding pairings - I haven't decided on any. Right now it's quite a neutral AkaSaku. Of course, the plot will give her more screentime with some than others, but romantically, I'm still undecided. **

**So... hope you enjoyed and please review!**


	5. Flowers of Felicity

**AN: So... I know I said this would be up soon but it turned out way longer than what I thought and I didn't have the heart to cut it again and give you another short chapter so... here it is!  
**

**Thanks to: PieKiller, .Blossom, Blossom-channn, nadeshiko-yuna, Hana-Taisho, la canelle, alice Orihara Scarlet and Infinite Nosferatu for your lovely reviews! They made my day! Lots of love to everyone who's supported :)**

* * *

**Flowers of Felicity**

_This is the second time she's been in the hospital this month. _

Sakura takes a deep breath and releases it shakily. The world around her is fragmented, no longer tangible but so _real _at the same time.

This world _is _real, somewhere along the balances of time. It is only _Sakura _that isn't real. Sakura that shouldn't exist.

Because Sakura is dead. And so are Akatsuki, and Hebi.

Madara's final jutsu killed them all. Only he and Kabuto lived to tell the tale.

And things will not be- right- until she dies again.

The door to her ward opens and Ino squeals.

"Sakura!" she exclaims, "You're awake."

She runs up to the bed and envelops her friend in a hug.

"I was so worried!"

Sakura nods mutely. Ino feels real, concrete and palpable, but yet she knows that for her, Ino is not real.

_Her _Ino is dead.

This whole world has shifted, broken in her eyes but just out of reach still complete.

"You won't _believe _what happened!" Ino squeals, sitting down before Sakura can squeeze out a word. "Right as we got there – you fainted! And Uchiha Sasuke was too busy to come! We got our money back but still- the whole day was absolutely ruined! And we've all been so worried about you too, especially since you'd just been discharged from the hospital and look huh- you're back again!"

_Genjutsu, _Sakura recognises, _Ino doesn't remember a thing. She'll believe anything - even this poorly constructed story. _

She continues to go on about how Sasuke is going to reimburse them but Sakura cannot bring herself to even procure a smile at the thought of Sasuke – the man who banished her to this reality.

Speaking of whom – what had happened to him? To Karin and Suigetsu and Juugo?

Kami. Does Karin still work here?

Then she could be assassinated at any minute! Especially considering how she's stuck like an invalid on a hospital bed. What is she going to do? What _can _she do?

"Where's Karin?" Sakura asks quickly, interrupting the blonde mid-rant.

Ino suddenly freezes.

"There was… an incident," the blonde says slowly, "Karin's… missing. And presumed dead."

Sakura pauses. So something did happen - but what about Suigetsu and Juugo? And - and _Itachi!_ Ino's looking terribly conflicted, probably thinking about the feud she had with Karin and all the mean words she said, but Sakura just needs to know-

"What was the incident?"

"It's… classified," Ino says slowly. "I can't tell you."

But Sakura _needs_ to know this. And right now she doesn't care a bloody bit about Ino's work regulations. "Come on," Sakura coaxes, "You know I won't tell anyone else. Plus – what could the harm be? You're a good intelligence officer. You know who to trust. And you can trust me."

"This is beyond that though," Ino says desperately, "This is beyond our reign. This is deep politically, corporately and I _can't _tell you."

Sakura bites her lip and leans back. "Very well. I'm sorry Ino."

Then, with a few rapid seals under her bed sheets, Ino is wrapped in her genjutsu.

_Uchiha Itachi is talking to Prime Minister of Japan. The PM goes along with his wishes, not wanting to upset the CEO of Japan's biggest corporation and his largest sponsor. Behind them, the corpse of Karin lies still on the bed._

Then she reaches a mental barrier – Itachi must have blocked Ino's memories. But Sakura can knock them down – she's spent two years training with Akatsuki - Itachi's not even bothered using a strong mental block. A few nudges with her chakra in just the right places and the barrier topples. But before the blonde can reorientate herself anymore Sakura charges deeper into Ino's psyche.

_Ino walks closer to the corpse of Karin. Sakura recognises Itachi's killing technique – the quick and painless death._

_Except that death itself is far from painless. _

_The corpse – the _dead _corpse – is writhing with pain. Her mouth is open in a silent scream and she's convulsing and crying- Karin is in pain, dead but _dying _and it's _never-ending-!

_Itachi steps forward, wrenches Ino away and his eyes begin to turn red. _

_But Sakura's eyes are locked on Karin, locked on the way she's jerking, cadaverous and broken. And then she realises that she is not seeing the body, not the corporal form of Karin. _

_She is seeing the soul._

Sakura ricochets out of Ino's mind.

For a second, the blonde looks at her with unimaginable horror.

But then Sakura slams her with another genjutsu and Itachi's memory block re-establishes itself.

For a second, Ino sways, and Sakura fears the worse.

But then the blonde says-

"Fish'O'Fill just hired the _cutest _waiter by the way, we should _totally _check him out."

* * *

Sakura recognises the chakra signature outside her door and dissipates her chakra scalpels.

"No need to stop for me," Kakuzu says calmly.

"I can't believe you," Sakura says with a guttural laugh, "All this time, you were the _receptionist!"_

Kakuzu grins. "You were always oblivious."

Sakura rolls her eyes. "Don't pull that shit on me. Now why don't you explain what the _fuck _is happening."

Kakuzu raises an eyebrow. "You're starting to sound a lot like Hidan."

"Well excuse me," Sakura drawls, "if being stuck in an _alternate reality _and then thinking I was going _mad _and then finding supposed _super powers _and then finding that I'm actually _dead _is not enough to mitigate the effects of my swearing."

The two eye each other for a second before Sakura breaks down into tears.

Kakuzu crosses the room in two big steps and envelops her in a hug. He smells of harsh antiseptic and ink and his arms are still disjointed like the way they were _before _but she doesn't care because he's _familiar. _He's _Kakuzu. _

"I was so confused," Sakura sobs into his shirt, "But now it all makes sense! The rise of Jashinism, Uchiha Sasuke and Hebi, Kisame's restaurant chains - like he always wanted! - and Uchiha Corporations _– I mean trust Itachi! – _and even Sasori as a little schoolboy! And Deidara that little shit blew up Sydney!"

She laughs a bit at the end but it's hollow and crackled. Kakuzu sighs pats the back of her head soothingly, just like he did when Temari gave up her life to save Naruto.

_God. Temari. _The Sand Siblings - the celebrity reality-TV show stars - the new Kardashians. They were Temari! And Kankurou! And _Gaara!_

Sakura's sniffles begin to turn into empty laughs, choking her chest. Kakuzu is simply silent, stroking her hair, up and down.

Finally, she looks up at him.

"We're all dead, aren't we," she says with surprising clarity.

"Yes," Kakuzu says quietly. "Akatsuki, Hebi, and you. Even though it was never meant to be you."

Sakura scoffs, but it lacks any force. "Why didn't I know?" she asks softly, "Why didn't I _know? _And how – how do we escape this-_" hellhole, lie, decrepit excuse of a fucking reality "_-world?"

Kakuzu pulls back and looks her in the eye.

"Akatsuki is meeting in The Hague. Next Tuesday. At the Crowne Plaza Den Haag – Promenade. 7:00 that night. Come. You'll get answers."

He lets go of her and turns to the door.

"Wait," Sakura calls desperately, "Where are you going?"

Kakuzu gives her a wry smile. "I have work to be doing. You do too. Now get going before Tsunade jumps on your ass."

And Sakura laughs as the last point of clarity in her world leaves and splinters.

"See you tomorrow!" Kakuzu smiles.

"I'll be there," she says firmly.

* * *

_Crowne Plaza Den Haag – Promenade_

The sun seems frozen in its descent downwards. It's night, and according to the time difference she should be pretty tired by now – but she's not. Not at all. She's too excited – the thought of seeing everyone again, of seeing her _old _life a _lifetime _after-

No. Sakura is not tired at all.

Her phone suddenly begins to blare and Sakura jumps, nearly falling off her chair. Hastily, she searches through her pockets before finding it and quickly answering it.

"Hey Ino," she says, plomping down onto one of the chairs on the balcony.

"_Forehead girl!" _Ino shrieks, "_Where are you? _I went over to your apartment today but _you weren't there!_ I can't find you _anywhere! _I checked the library, the mall, the hospital – of course – the café, the cinema-"

"The Hague, Ino," Sakura says quietly to her phone, "I'm in the Hague."

There's a moment of silence before Ino laughs.

"You're shitting me aren't you."

"No," Sakura says ruefully, leaning back on her chair as she surveys the view from her hotel room, "It's true."

Next to her, the clock rhythmically ticks to 6:40.

For a second, there is silence on the other end. And then Ino shrieks - "What the hell are you doing there? There's nothing to see! It's _The Hague!_"

"I'll be back soon," Sakura reassures, deftly avoiding the question. "And aren't you in the Netherlands anyway?"

"Well, yeah," Ino relents, and Sakura can almost hear the pout in her voice. "But I'm on assignment. What are you going to do there? I know for a fact that nothing's happening except some UN conference. And stop avoiding my question! Why are you even there anyway?"

"You know what?" Sakura says quickly, "I'm running low on credit gottagobye."

"_Forehe-"_

With a click, Sakura hangs up. For a moment, she feels slightly guilty but she pushes that away, shutting off her phone. This is more important.

But next to her, the clock only reads 6:42.

_Oh fuck this_, she thinks, _there's no way I can wait that long._

She grabs her purse and hurries to the elevator, waiting impatiently for it to arrive. She could probably run down the stairs with her chakra faster than the elevator, but living in this society her whole life has taught her about security cameras – cameras that would be watched, especially in such a high class hotel.

Finally the elevator arrives and she hurries in, taking deep breaths to steady herself.

This is it. This is where she'll get all of her answers.

The elevator pings and Sakura steps out into the lobby.

The place is rather quiet, except for a few people milling in and out, checking in and checking out. The only thing that seems irregular is the great presence of bodyguards scattered around the place. Probably for the UN delegates staying at the hotel.

Speaking of whom, was that red hair? Next to blue hair?

Pein and Konan?

Sakura swivels around but the two figures have disappeared behind two potted plants.

Sakura bites her lip determinately, striding her way across the lobby in large steps, her heart hammering in her chest with excitement, nervousness, _hope-_

Is that them?

_UN delegates? Of Japan?_

Is that why they were meeting here?

Was it even them?

Then they turn, and meet her eyes.

It _is_ them.

Sakura begins to tear up, choking, sobbing, and then she's walking faster and faster towards them and they're walking faster and faster towards her too-

Pein swoops her up in his arms and she laughs, and a second later Konan has her familiar comforting hand on her back and Sakura feels _whole_ again, like she finally belongs in this alternate reality.

"Sakura," Pein says quietly, _happily,_ "I see you finally understand."

"Yeah," she laughs bitterly, "Hidan knocked some sense into me. Literally. Back in freshman year."

Konan gives her a small smile.

"Good, good. Come with us. The others are waiting."

"They're already here?"

Konan's eyes twinkle. "Of course. No one could wait that long."

Sakura follows the pair through the main lobby and towards one of the conference rooms, her heart hammering all the way.

Are they all… alright? Do they still remember her? Are they still friends? What have they been doing with their new lives?

The conference room finally appears in front of her and Pein motions for Sakura.

"We've all been waiting for you," he smiles.

Sakura takes a deep breath and opens the door.

Akatsuki are waiting inside.

"Hi," she breathes.

For a moment the room is silent, and then Kisame, closest to the door, sweeps up and hugs her.

"Hey Princess," he murmurs into her hair.

"Hey Mr. CEO of Fish O' Fill," she giggles back, and it feels as if her heart is _soaring. _

that seems to jolt all the other members and suddenly they're all congregated in the middle, touching but not really touching, whispering soft words of comfort.

Sasori is grinning when he grasps her hand, looking much like a mischievous high-schooler and Sakura is torn between hugging him and hitting him for all the stress he put her through.

Itachi is calm, like always, and she hugs him tightly to thank him for all he'd done for her. Hidan and Kakuzu – those bastards – are grinning cheekily and she pulls them by the ear to give them both a big hug.

And then Deidara steps forward and all she can say is-

"What happened to your hair?"

Deidara grins sheepishly, running a hand through his now short, black locks.

"Hey! It was actually really hard for me to get here yeah! The whole police force around the world are chasing me! And technology's actually real high-tech here! Did you know I actually can't be caught on camera? They also have this new system which can ID you through bone structure – and even a henge can't change that!"

"Oh kami," Sakura says, giving him a weak smile. Deidara grins at her like a child. "I can't believe you blew up the opera house! Why did you do that?"

"Now that, is a long story," Pein says pointedly. "If we could all take a seat?"

Akatsuki flitters back to their seats, but Sakura has missed them so much that she can't help but grab the hands of the two next to her – Itachi's lips curve into a small smile and even though Sasori is as stoic as ever, she knows he's missed her too.

"Now," Pein says, leaning forward. The whole room simmers down to silence and the friendly, happy atmosphere immediately turns serious. _Kami _Sakura has missed this - Akatsuki's working environment, all of them around her.

"To start from the beginning," Pein says slowly. "Itachi knows most about this technique..."

"Back in our world," Itachi starts, leaning back in his chair with a heavy sigh, "Uchiha Madara had been planning an old _old _Uchiha technique. It was supposed to take us out of our world, to another place. No one knew where back then - no one had ever had the capability to perform the technique - but it was known that it would not have been... pleasant. The technique would not have taken us to _this_ world."

"Wait," Sakura says sharply. "Than why are we here?"

Itachi locks his gaze with her.

"When the technique was finished, only Kabuto and Madara were out of range. The rest of us – we were starting to be torn apart. The technique was not a calm technique, was not some portal which we magically fell through. It was a violent technique which tore you apart and built you back together again in hell. But..." he swallows harshly and looks away.

"You released your Strength of a Hundred Seal," Deidara says, uncharacteristically serious. "And somehow – _somehow –_ it meddled with the technique and brought us all… here. We're dead, all of us, but you brought us… here."

"And that's why you don't remember anything," Konan finishes, "the seal took up so much of your chakra that you… lost it. It was gone. All of it."

"Scared the shit out of us yeah," Deidara mumbles.

"It was never meant to be you," Sasori repeats, "You were never meant to die."

"But we're all dead anyway," Sakura says hollowly, "So why do I have my chakra? Was it because Hidan hit me?"

Hidan sends her a wicked grin, but even he is strangely mellow.

"We studied your functioning, Itachi especially with his sharingan," Konan says quietly, twiddling with her fingers. "We figured out after a few years of research and tests that it was a barrier, preventing you from accessing your memories and your chakra. Hidan, the buffoon, decided to hit you the moment we figured out it was a mental barrier. Even though none of us knew how it worked. He put you in-"

"Grave danger," Hidan drawls, "I know! But it worked didn't it? I had Jashin-sama on my side!"

Kakuzu hits him over the head.

Sakura resists the urge to giggle, biting her lip. "Thanks anyway," she says. Hidan grins.

"However the problem was that after that, you became much more in tune with your chakra," Sasori says. "You were still tentative, delicate, and every time we were too close to you you would have sudden bursts – visions – and it was not safe to have been battering your brain like that."

"So we left before we could damage your brain any further," Kakuzu explains. "Sasori stayed a few cities from you, Kakuzu was stationed in your hospital – the closest – and Hidan was in the city. You could've handled more, except Hebi was keeping their eye on you too yeah. Karin was at the hospital, and Suigetsu and Juugo not too far away either."

"Wow," Sakura breathes, "But why – why did Deidara blow up the Opera House?'

"Hebi was planning," Itachi says with a strong sense of finality. "They had felt your chakra fluctuating – like we did – and had gotten it into their heads that since you had brought them here your death would bring them out. I had a little talk with my otouto but… he didn't listen."

"Evidently," Hidan grumbles under his breath.

"So Deidara set out to make a clear warning. Made sure to do something big, so Hebi would get the message. So that they would know that we had eyes on you too."

"Thanks," Sakura says, remembering the _fear. _"Thanks for me, and for not, you know, killing anyone."

Deidara gives her a lopsided smile.

"I figured out a technique – an old Uchiha one-"

"The Uchiha have a lot of bloody secrets," Deidara mumbles.

"-and I imparted it onto you at Sasuke's house. So now you're... as you were before."

Sakura takes a deep breath and leans back. She sees now, understands now, how all things in her life were interconnected, building up to this moment. Alive, but not really alive. Waiting for… something. Everything was so tangible and yet not at the same time. She was torn - they all were. A part of them was still in Konoha, another part was dead, and the last was... here. In this strange world of 2014.

"How do we escape?" she asks finally. "How can we find peace, and die? Because Karin…"

"We don't know," Itachi says, voice cracking slightly. "And I am sorry that she has to go through this because of my lack of foresight."

"What happened to her?" Sakura asks quietly.

"She's gone to where we would have gone had you not interfered," Pein says quietly, "It could be anywhere – the shinigami's stomach, hell itself – but it is not a pleasant place. It seems that your technique only provided an intermittent, a medium, and that once this ends, we will go there too in death."

Sakura remembers Karin, and her horrified expression and represses a shudder. "But that can't be," she says, almost pleading. "That can't be."

"This wasn't supposed to happen to you," Sasori repeats quietly.

"This wasn't supposed to happen to any of us!" Sakura shouts, feeling the tears beginning to build under her eyes.

"Someone's coming," Kisame says suddenly, raising a hand. The whole room silences and a layer of chakra cloaks over every member, silencing even the sound of their heartbeats. "I can hear the footsteps."

Cautiously, Sakura spikes a shot of chakra to her ears. She hears two pairs, rapidly approaching. But she can't identify them – they have no chakra. _No one_ has any chakra except for them. And for the first time since she was a genin, Sakura feels helpless.

The door bursts open.

"There you are!" Ino says in relief, Shikamaru at her side. "I was so worried about you you numbat! You just got out of the hospital and then you disappear - and to The Hague of all places! You weren't even cleared to fly! Who knows what the plane ride could've done to you - you're still recovering! _Plus, _you weren't answering your phone – after all that's happened, with the incident at your office, I thought you'd been kidnapped or-"

"Ino," Shikamaru says sharply. The blonde pauses and looks at her partner. Shikamaru raises one hand and points at Deidara - with the other, he presses the emergency help button on his belt.

Ino freezes.

"Fuck," Sakura breathes.

Slowly, deadly, Ino turns to Sakura.

"Sakura." she says icily. "What's going on. Ambassador Pein? Ambassador Konan? Uchiha Itachi? Hoshigaki Kisame? And that's – that's the boy you bumped into! And is that- Kakuzu? _TV man_? You're all harbouring – _Deidara?!"_

For a second, Ino is stunned into silence. And then, she narrows her eyes and pulls out her gun.

"Turn around," she says flatly, "Arms in the air. No sudden movements, or I'll shoot."

* * *

**AN: Cliffhanger. I know. I couldn't help myself... plus, I couldn't find an appropriate place to end. But yeah! Review please! I've got some good things planned :)**


	6. Flowers of Sublimity

**AN: I seem to have this problem of planning chapters out which turn out to be too long which I then have to cut and split into another chapter... yeah. That happened again. I just gave up half way through and decided to give you this. I think it ends at a relatively appropriate place though, but it might be lacking a bit in its structure. Sorry guys!**

**Thanks to nasakelova, Hana-Taisho and 1ItachiUchihagurl for your lovely reviews! ****And I also remembered I've been forgetting to put these, so:**

**Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine!**

* * *

**Flowers of Sublimity**

_Shit, _Sakura thinks, _what do we do?_

Ino still has her gun out, and so does Shikamaru. But she knows that even if they shoot it would be easy to dodge, or a simple wind jutsu would stop the bullet. And plus, with Akatsuki on her side, overpowering them will be easy as a genin mission.

Except for a big fat problem.

_Technology. _

Security cameras have placed them inside this hotel, this room. Shikamaru's pressed the emergency help button, which means back up's on the way.

So that rules out genjutsu - cameras prove that all of them are in the same room as Ino and Shikamaru, and nothing they do will change that. They'll spot Deidara in the security footage, and they'll be done for. And she- _none_ of them- can have this much attention on them. The only way to find a way out of this world is to continue their research, and none of them will be able to do that if they're _locked in Guantanamo Bay!_

_Deep breaths, _Sakura tells herself. She turns to Pein instinctively, looking towards their leader, but Ino cocks her gun at the sudden movement.

"Hands in the air," she repeats coldly.

Slowly, Pein raises his hands. Universally, the rest of Akatsuki follow. Sakura can hear the sirens blaring in the background.

"You've been mistaken," Pein begins, but Shikamaru has his gun on him in an instant. Pein silences, a frown on his face. He's not used to bowing to authority, but Sakura knows that all of Akatsuki has evaluated the same risks as she has, and knows that to cause trouble now would be worth more damage than good.

"Oh really," Ino says flatly. Her tone is dead, and for a second Sakura feels a stab of guilt. _Focus, _she tells herself, _don't stray from the mission._

Ino reaches for her belt and dials some sort of code into the radio. Then, she and Shikamaru are advancing forwards.

"You have the right to remain silent," she says quietly. "Anything you say can, and will be held against you in the court of order-"

"Wait," Sakura pleads. Ino pauses. "Please. Hear us out."

She doesn't know what Pein has planned, but she trusts him.

"Please," she repeats. "For an old friend."

Ino hesitates, but Sakura can barely read the emotions on her face. Even in another world, Ino is still the master of subterfuge.

Finally she sighs, and places one hand on Shikamaru's shoulder, stilling him.

"Alright," she says briskly. "You have thirty seconds. Make it worthwhile."

"All of us were gathering for a different reason," Pein says quickly. "Konan and I wanted some medical advice on one of our plans for Ethiopia, so we brought in Kakuzu and Sakura. Itachi and Kisame were also here, to talk about funding our project, and Hidan was their escort. Deidara…"

"I was threatening them yeah," Deidara says quickly, and Sakura thinks _what? - _but Itachi, almost as if he'd known what Deidara was going to say, suddenly switches on his sharingan.

"What the fu-" Ino begins, but her and Shikamaru are already caught in a genjutsu. Immediately Deidara shunshin's to her side and presses a kunai to her neck. Itachi's sharingan snaps off.

"What'cha gonna do now yeah?" Deidara taunts from behind her.

Immediately Ino and Shikamaru's guns swivel towards him.

"Sakura-" Ino chokes, biting her lip in worry.

Deidara presses his kunai closer to her neck and pulls her in until her ear is right by his lips.

"What did Itachi do?" Sakura murmurs from the corner of her lips. "Nothing too risky?"

"He altered their memories a bit," Deidara whispers into her hair, "Now they think I've had you at knife point from the beginning."

"Come on," Ino says, switching immediately into negotiator mode, eyes flickering in worry between Sakura and Deidara. "Let her go. We can help you."

Then Deidara shrugs.

"Alright."

Ino looks extremely surprised – evidently expecting some harsh rebuttal from the madman bomber –but Deidara knows that the process will be a lot easier this way. Sakura knows his tactic - Section 1B, from the ANBU handbook. One member of the team sacrifices himself for the others. Except Deidara is the last person she'd expect this from.

Deidara steps back from Sakura and drops the kunai. It clatters to the floor, the only sound in the stifling silence.

Ino and Shikamaru immediately pounce - quite quickly for civilians, Sakura notes - and kicks the kunai away from Deidara before cuffing him. As if on cue, a thunder of footsteps enter the hotel and the rest of the police force arrives, kicking down the door.

Immediately they swarm around Deidara, and he disappears among their bodies out the door. Then, the higher authority figures arrive – the mayor of The Hague, the head of the police department – and they immediately segway towards Itachi, Kisame, Pein and Konan - the most important figures.

And before she knows it, Sakura's being pulled away too by the medical staff. They probe her, checking her vitals, looking for cuts and bruises.

"I'm a doctor," she tries to say, but they don't understand her – she can only speak Japanese, and they can only speak Dutch.

So she lets herself be dragged away, towards an ambulance and further and further away from Akatsuki.

* * *

"I'll see you later," Itachi murmurs before he smiles at the police commissioner, saying something in Dutch. A second later, he disappears into the questioning room.

Sakura sighs, leaning back in the bench. She's inside the police department, waiting to be questioned so they can take down her official witness statement. They've already dealt with Sasori and Hidan - Kakuzu, Kisame, Pein and Konan are at another office. God knows where Deidara is.

"Haruno Sakura?"

Sakura looks up from her spot on the seat. A medical officer stands before her, surgical mask on his face, blue cap adorning his hair. His visible eyes are crinkled in a smile.

"I hear you like coffee," he says gently, pushing forward a cup of said broth into her hands.

"You speak Japanese," Sakura blurts out.

He chuckles quietly before taking a seat next to her. "Yes. I speak many languages."

"Is that why they sent you to talk to me?"

The man simply continues smiling.

"Haruno Sakura," he says, "I have something to tell you."

And then Sakura begins to have that bad feeling in her gut again – the same suspicion and fear she had with Hidan and Sasori but this time it's _so much worse. _

"Who are you?" she asks slowly.

The man simply continues to smile. "Trust me," he says, "You would be better off not knowing."

Then, the door opposite opens and the police commissioner steps out, followed by Itachi.

"You alright there?" Itachi asks in Japanese.

"Yeah," she replies softly, managing a small smile.

The police commissioner clears his throat. "Would you- like some- coffee?" he manages to ask in broken Japanese.

Sakura's head snaps up. "I- I- I've got-" but then she looks down at her hands. There is no coffee cup.

Her head whips up again and she eyes the man in doctor's dress next to her.

"Am I alone?" she asks hollowly.

"Yeah," Itachi says, shooting her a strange look. "Why?"

Sakura cracks an awkward smile, trying to stop her hands from shaking. Next to her, the doctor? The man? The ghost? Smiles softly.

"Okay," he says, "I'll get you some coffee alright? The police commissioner will be back in a few minutes – we're waiting for the translator to arrive."

"Great," Sakura says, smile automatically locked in place as she studiously tries to ignore the presence next to her. "That's great."

"Alright then," Itachi says, cocking an eyebrow before turning back to the commissioner and speaking to him in Dutch – bilingual rich kid – and guiding him outside, leaving Sakura alone in the room.

As the door swings shut, she turns to the man.

"Who are you?" she asks quietly, tired and resigned.

"I am no one," the man says deeply, "I am everyone."

And then his eyes shift – black, byakugan, brown, blue, green, sharingan, grey, before finally settling on rinnegan. Sakura begins to tremble, her whole being feeling weak in front of this entity.

"I am no one," he repeats, "I am everyone. But who I am does not matter. What do you want, child?"

"To escape," Sakura says automatically, "To die. To be free."

And then he smiles.

"You never did belong here. It was never meant to be you."

Then, he leans over and clasps her hands in his.

"Your hands have the power," he says quietly. "Use them. They who brought you here will bring you out."

And then, he disappears.

A fraction of a second later, the police commissioner opens the door, coupled by a translator.

"Welcome," the translator says jovially, "My name is Killer Bee, and this is Police Commissioner A. Please, come in and take a seat."

* * *

"You're a magnet for trouble," Ino groans, "I mean this is your _third _visit to the hospital in a month – and because of a _hostage situation _of all things!

"Life bloody sucks," Sakura says, thinking about Deidara in prison.

"Yeah," Ino agrees, for completely different reasons.

There's a knock on her hospital door.

"H-h-haruno-san?" a nurse stutters from outside, "Th-th-there's someone to s-s-see you!"

The door open and Ino nearly topples back off her chair. Itachi raises a polite hand in greeting.

"U-U-Uchiha-san!" Ino nearly squeals.

Sakura smiles softly at Itachi. "Hey," she says.

He turns to Ino. "If you'll excuse us for a second?"

"O-o-of course!" Ino says before scrambling out of the room, shooting Sakura a stare which says _tell me everything._

Sakura gives her friend a hesitant wave before turning back to Itachi.

He eyes her resignedly, as if knowing what she's going to say.

"I'm breaking him out," Sakura says quickly.

Itachi eyes her steadily.

"I know what you're going to say," she adds before he can open his mouth, "But you can't stop me. It's my fault he's in there, and it's my duty to get him out."

Itachi sighs and drops down onto the chair next to her bed. "You do realise the life you'll be confining yourself to if you get caught, don't you? The fugitive life. And that's a lot harder in this world than it is in the one before with all the technology."

"Deidara was willing to take the risk for me. I'm willing to do so for him."

Itachi takes a deep breath.

"Very well," he says finally, "I know I can't stop you. But you have to take somebody with you. Even though you have your chakra, they have sensory devices, electric fences, security cameras – and Deidara's in the most high-tech prison they have."

"You'll help me though, won't you?" Sakura says, turning on her puppy eyes. "You're powerful. You can get me blueprints, plans of the jail."

Itachi grinds his teeth and nods. "I'd still feel better if I came-"

"No," Sakura says sharply. "I won't take you or Kisame – it would ruin you both if you got caught. Same for Pein and Konan - they're both out of the question. I'll take Sasori, Hidan or Kakuzu." She pauses, evaluating her options. "What do you think?"

Itachi sighs again, rubbing his temples. "Well that depends. Are you going for subtlety or efficiency? Take Sasori for subtlety – poisons, puppets, the like – Hidan or Kakuzu for brute force. Or you could, you know, take all three. That would work to."

Sakura shoots him a flat stare. "Hidan and Kakuzu. Together. Do you think they can be quiet?"

Itachi arches an eyebrow. "So you're looking for quiet, rather than subtlety. Think long and hard Sakura. Do you think any of them will be quiet? Especially once Sasori and Deidara meet? You've got two of the most volatile Akatsuki partners on your hands."

Sakura groans. "Damn. That's right."

"I'm always right," Itachi says with a small smile. "Look. Just take Sasori. You plus the artists should be enough to keep you out of trouble."

Sakura grins. "When are we ever in trouble?"

Itachi stares at her blankly. "I can't even _begin _to answer that question." But then his face softens.

"Stay safe Sakura," he says gently, "Don't condemn yourself to… _that."_

She gives him a soft smile. "I won't."

* * *

"I would just like to point out," Sasori says, "That just because I agreed to help you, it does not mean _at all _that I agree with Deidara's view of art."

Sakura stops and stares at him flatly. "We're in the middle of breaking into a high security prison. I don't _care _about your views on art."

Sasori rolls his eyes before reaching out and grabbing her, pulling her into the shadows as the security camera turns around.

"Sakura," he sighs. "Look. Concentrate. Remember. We jump over the electric fence, you have to take care of the guard at station A, then move onto B, and then you split off to section F - and remember to lower your body temperature at Section A1 because they have heat sensors, and don't forget about the platoon station at G78. The USB will take care of the cameras but remember the motion sensors at corner A134 and U7 and B3 and O01-"

"And everywhere yeah yeah," Sakura sighs, "I get it Sasori. We don't have to go over it again."

Sasori turns up his nose. "Excuse me for questioning your abilities Miss-I-Can't-Remember-Where-I-Put-My-Pen-Even-Though-It's-In-My-Hair."

Sakura blows him a kiss.

"You love me."

The security camera turns away again and Sakura spikes chakra to her feet, leaping forward and jumping over the security fence into the prison compound. It's a high, smooth wall, impossible to get over because it's charged with electricity. Except for the fact that, well, Sakura had chakra and could simply jump over it.

Sasori lands a second after her, a small frown on his face from having been left behind.

"Remember," Sakura says, snapping into mission mode, "I'll go left and you'll go right. Use _genjutsu only. _We don't want to cause a ruckus."

"Tell that to Deidara," Sasori grumbles before shooting off towards the right.

Sakura smiles wistfully, fingering the USB in her pocket. It's a virus that Hidan had managed to get (apparently he had ties with the mafia - no surprise though, Sakura thinks), and it'll shut down all the cameras. That means they'll only have to worry about the heat and motion sensors - and the guards, but they're practically sitting ducks.

The whole process is actually remarkably easy.

The main office is simple to find - while it's hidden at the end of a maze, she has the blueprints Itachi got. Similarly, a genjutsu'd guard is all it takes to get the USB into the port and the entire camera system is down.

Of course, there are layers of fail safe too - a secondary and tertiary camera system running under different power supplies (Sasori's taking care of those) - as well as the sensors and numerous more traditional physical traps - but in all honesty, Sakura is a ninja.

And nothing like that can stop her.

* * *

Luckily - luckily? - Deidara is in solitary confinement. That means that she and Sasori won't have to bother henging themselves or genjutsuing the other prisoners.

His cell isn't one of the strongest, but it's still rather hard to locate.

There are several security codes needed, others need fingerprints, or a retina scan. But those are easy to pass too - after all, a person will do anything under genjutsu.

Deidara himself is behind three metre thick concrete walls (enough to withstand gamma radiation, the medical part of Sakura's brain thinks). The cell is a moderate size - better by margins, compared to some of the shinobi interrogation rooms they've all been through - and according to reports he should have a bed and a small drawer. He's handcuffed, most probably, and there's a camera in the room for suicide watch. But she's already disabled that.

Sakura turns to Sasori. "You ready?"

"I was born ready," he deadpans.

Sakura turns to him. "Wow," she says flatly. "You've certainly picked up the lingo."

Then she summons her chakra and _punches._

"That-" Sasori begins, but then the wall crumbles and alarms begin to blare. "...was not a good idea," he finishes. "I'm telling Itachi you did that."

Sakura rolls her eyes, pulls her fist back, and punches the next wall. "It doesn't matter. All the guards here are under my genjutsu, and it'll take backup super long to get here." She pauses, pulls her fists back, and punches again. "That's actually one of the advantages of a high-security prison. It's extremely isolated and any outside help won't get here till an hour. Maybe. And we can outrun cars anyway."

"Someone say cars yeah?" Deidara grins.

A grin splits over her face. Deidara jumps up from his bed and envelops her in a hug. He even shakes hands with Sasori.

"Nice room," Sasori says.

And it is. Deidara has a bed, a drawer, and even a bucket for his toilet needs.

"Wow," she says, "They certainly keep prisoners in good condition."

Deidara grins back. "What'dya expect yeah? That I'd be chained up on the wall being tortured?"

"We've all been there," Sakura shrugs, before reaching over and slicing open his handcuffs.

"You ready?"

Deidara grins. "I was born ready."

"Oh my god," Sasori says blankly, "You did not just say that."

"Why?" Deidara asks affronted, "What's that to you yeah?"

"Guys," Sakura cuts in before a full-blown fight can start. "If we could get a move on…?"

"Of course," Sasori says smoothly, turning his nose up at Deidara. "I can hear the sirens approaching. We need to run. One hour my ass Sakura."

"Yeah yeah," Sakura says.

"Hold on a sec," Deidara says slowly. "Why don't you guys go out first yeah."

He undoes the henge on his hands and his tongues emerge.

"You're not…" Sasori begins with a sigh.

Deidara grins. "I _so _am."

"But not too big!" Sakura adds, "There're other prisoners here!"

"Yeah yeah," Deidara repeats, shooing them out before dropping some clay on the floor. "_Now_ let's go!"

The room explodes and they run, away from the whirling of helicopters and the screaming of sirens.

* * *

**AN: Also, all of my chapters seem to be around the 3000 words length. Are you guys happy with that? Cause the next chapter's turning a bit longer, and a few of mine have been shorter and longer. Let me know what you think, and I hope you liked this chapter! And don't forget to review - I love your comments :)**


	7. Flowers of Transcendence

**AN: **Hey guys! This chapter's a bit longer to make up for the wait, so hopefully you guys will enjoy that :) Thanks to Kurai Hana-chan, Genny4, Infinite Nosferatu, 1ItachiUchihagurl, Hana-Taisho and Broken Reveries for your reviews, and everyone else who's supported this. Love you all!

* * *

**Flowers of Transcendence **

"Alright," Sakura grins, "Sasori, you and Deidara head over to the port and I'll meet you there. Sasori will brief you on disguises."

Sasori eyes her steadily while Deidara perks up.

"What about you? Where're you going yeah?"

Sakura pulls her bag strap over her shoulder.

"To a town a few miles from here. I'm going to fix you up."

Deidara cocks an eyebrow. "Fix me up?"

"I'm a doctor," Sakura says steadily, pulling out a kunai. "All kinds of things. I can disguise you."

Deidara looks like he's about to puke and Sakura can't stop the bubble of laughter from escaping.

"I'm kidding," she says. "I know a genjutsu-potion mixture that'll disguise you – Kurenai-sensei taught it to me. It'll work better than anything you guys know and will stop you from being identified. It just takes a few herbs though, so I'll need to buy some at the markets over there. I'll probably end up having to stay the night there though - the potion needs to sit for twenty-four hours, and it'll be easier just to rent a room."

"Sounds like a lot of trouble," Sasori says flatly.

"But worth it!" Deidara adds quickly.

Sakura smiles softly. "Yeah. I'll meet you back tonight, yeah? I gotta run before Ino freaks. Itachi said he'd cover for me – say I'm with him or something – but it won't be long till Ino really starts losing it and traces my phone or something."

"She's crazy even here," Deidara says with a grin, clapping her on the back.

Sasori rolls his eyes. "Let's go," he says sharply, already turning around and veering away. Deidara eyes his partner before turning back to Sakura.

"Thanks," he says quietly.

"No problem," Sakura replies, giving him a soft smile. It's a situation all too familiar, and their roles have been reversed many times a lifetime ago.

"Deidara!" Sasori calls, "Come here. You know I hate waiting. And you too Sakura, don't encourage him."

Deidara rolls his eyes. "I _know _Sasori-danna, yeah."

Sakura bites her lip, a smile threatening to burst through. "I'll see you guys later?"

Sasori shoots her one last look.

"Be safe. Stay out of trouble."

Sakura grins. "What could go wrong?"

* * *

Sakura places the last few herbs in her basket. Behind her, the first few rays of sunlight begin to ascend, illuminating the forest.

"Huh," Sakura says to the empty air, "I've missed the forest. I've missed… Konoha. Not that it was still standing when I… died."

She swallows harshly before turning around and quickly marching down the path to the nearest town. It's only a small one with only one inn for travelers but it'll have to do. The town itself however is rather busy for such an early morning. People are already around, hustling at the food stalls. Some small children are playing outside, supervised by a teacher with headphones in her ears. A few cars are rolling by, and she's passed occasionally by a few joggers. All in all a normal day.

She grabs her herbs at the market, a weak genjutsu covering her prominent features just in case. A quick search on her phone identifies the path to the Devon Inn - a place which looks less like a hotel and more like a house turned lodging.

Sakura stops in front, eyeing the piece of paper - laminated - pasted on top of the door identifying it as the Inn. She peers through the window - chipped paint, small reception, but strangely quaint and cozy. The receptionist sees her in an instant and shoots up, smiling brightly as she runs to the door, opening it for Sakura.

"Hi!" the receptionist - Anna - says with a smile, "Welcome to Devon Inn. How may I help you?"

"I would like a room, if you please?"

Anna grins. "'course! That'll be $80."

Sakura smiles, running through the recipe for the potion in her head. "Great, thanks."

"Up the stairs, to the left. Room 104."

Sakura thanks her again and grabs the card, quickly making her way up the stairs. The whole building seems crickety, on shaky foundations, and no doubt each of the rooms are quite small - the building is only two floors but they've fit sixty rooms.

Sure enough she finds her room - with about two feet between her bed and the walls, and a small little alcove for a bathroom which looks like it was built in the old wardrobe.

But it'll have to do.

She makes her way to the bathroom and dumps all the herbs from her pockets, sorting through them, identifying all the ones she needs.

She's just grabbed some peppermint - a common ingredient in sleeping potions and will do good to smother the original features - when suddenly, she feels a chakra signature.

It's only there for a second but Sakura freezes. She didn't recognise it - it wasn't Akatsuki - which means _danger. _Immediately she reaches into her pack and pulls out her weapons pouch, quickly strapping it to her waist.

Cautiously, she reaches out again, looking for chakra signatures. Nothing. Either the person is very good at masking their chakra signature, or she's mistaken.

Perhaps she's being too paranoid?

Sakura bites her lip before taking a deep breath and spiking chakra to her ears. And that's when she hears it – definite footsteps, _inside her room._

And it's not Sasori, or Deidara, or any of the Akatsuki.

Which can only mean one thing.

_Hebi_.

Sakura clamps down on her lip, muffling her surprised gasp. She eyes herself in the mirror, steadying herself before regulating her breathing again.

_In, out, in, out. Pretend you never noticed him. _

It's not Sasuke - she would have recognised him in a heartbeat - which means either Juugo or Suigetsu. Hopefully it's Juugo, because she knows she's at a harsh disadvantage in such a setting - her main offense is her strength, and she won't be able to use it in such a confined space – not if she wants to keep the hotel standing. She's also lost her Strength of a Hundred Seal, so she won't be able to beat him through sheer stamina. Juugo would have the same limitations but Suigetsu - a water element, would be fine.

She could also bring the fight outside, through the window maybe? But if all else fails there's the door-

_The door. _

_Water _is seeping in underneath the door.

_Suigetsu._

_Fuck, _Sakura thinks.

And then the water rises and Suigetsu's head grins at her. A kunai snaps to her hands and she raises it, a millisecond before Suigetsu hits. The metal clangs together but Sakura is strong enough to hold him back - and that too is only due to luck, as Suigetsu doesn't have Kubikiribōchō – Zabuza's old sword.

She's about to lean forward, press her advantage, but Suigetsu springs backwards. And then he has more kunai - two his hands, one in his mouth - and he launches forward again.

"_Heehee," _Suigetsu hisses.

Sakura curses and raises her hands, blocking him. But his momentum has forced her to skid back, and now that her back's pressed towards the wall there's nowhere else to go.

Suigetsu's grin widens and he swings with his kunai. Sakura swerves but his arm clamps down on her, blocking her movement and he raises his arm again to strike. Sakura takes the opportunity to knock into him and Suigetsu stumbles back, his kunai slicing her stomach rather than, more fatally, her neck.

Sakura hisses in pain, but just as she begins to send healing chakra to her stomach Suigetsu rolls over, blocking her once again from the door and swipes. Instinctively Sakura raises her arm to protect her neck - getting her arm sliced as well.

Suigetsu grins and slams the door shut. He's caged her in, but she needs to get _out._

Sakura fumbles for her weapons pouch, grabbing more kunai. Suigetsu raises an eyebrow cockily, seemingly confident in his ability to win.

_And he probably will too, _Sakura thinks bitterly.

This new realisation prompts her to go all out. She charges, kunai raised. Suigetsu has no time to dodge, not expecting such a frontal attack, but it doesn't harm him - he simply splatters into water again.

Except that had never been her goal - he's not injured, but she barrells through him and breaks through the door, into the main room.

The door splinters, sending shards of wood into her arms. Behind her, Suigetsu laughs.

"You're not going to win, Princess," he says, "Not when you're in such a confined little space."

"Fuck you," she spits.

Then his eyes harden.

"As if you have the place to talk," he says with a snarl, "Look at what your boyfriend did to Karin. _Do you remember what he did? _She's in fucking _hell _now! And it's _all your fault."_

A wave of guilt rushes through Sakura - _it's true it's true - _and Suigetsu takes the opportunity of her momentary horror to leap forward, kunai ready.

She stumbles back, hands forming seals at lighting speed – _tiger – ox – monkey – rabbit – ram – boar – ox – horse – monkey – tiger – dog – tiger – snake – tiger – ox – monkey – rabbit – bird._

She finishes just in time – _thank god for that drill Kakashi-sensei made me do – _and a giant water wave crashes down onto Suigetsu and sweeps him back.

Not to waste one moment, Sakura quickly performs an earth jutsu, securing all the walls and crevices in the room until they're essentially a box, the water piling up and up around Suigetsu, encasing him in a ball of water.

Suigetsu twists and turns against her jutsu but it fights back, flows down his mouth-

But then he disappears.

And Sakura, too late, remembers another one of Suigetsu's techniques – the ability to merge with water jutsu.

The water ball explodes, and there's more and more water and it begins to pool at her feet, but she _doesn't know where he is._

The water level keeps on rising and she jumps up, onto her bed - anywhere to escape the water. But it continues to rise, and rise, and _where the fuck is Suigetsu?_

Kami where the hell is Deidara and Sasori?

But more importantly, _how the hell is she going to get out?_

She eyes the window, but the water has already run up the walls and encased it. She would need to break it from a distance – maybe a lamp, or a drawer-

_The lamp. _

Sakura nearly hits herself.

_Of course. _

She begins to stumble across the bed, half-tripping over her covers. Suigetsu seems to realise her plan a second later and the water shoots up, twisting into various jutsus – but Sakura is faster.

"_Doton: Kōka Jutsu!"_

Defensive, A-rank technique. It's used up all her chakra - she has _nothing _left - but it's the one technique she needs. Hard rock armour encases her body, and she knows that for a few seconds, she is completely immune to Suigetsu's water attacks.

His first jutsu slams into her with a devastating force and her armour begins to crack. But a few seconds is all she needs.

Sakura slams into the lamp and pulls it out of its socket and she plunges it into the water.

Electricity charges through the water.

For a second, the water is still. And then it twists, and morphs, and a form begins to rise up from the water. Suigetsu's face emerges and he cries out – but he's quickly regulating the electricity away - much faster than she's anticipated and he's going to be fine in less than a second. But she has no time and no _bloody chakra-_

So she lunges forward and _punches. _

Her arm cleanly cuts through his chest, and he stares at her, eyes wide. And then he slumps, sliding of her arm and onto the floor.

_Oh my god, _Sakura thinks.

Beneath her, Suigetsu lies in the water, eyes half closed. He seems to be looking up at her, lips curved in a small smile.

_He's dead._

_I've killed him._

Sakura begins to shake, her eyes incapable of leaving Suigetsu - no, not Suigetsu - _his body! _

She snaps her eyes shut but she can still see him - tranquil, almost, submerged in a pool of water that he will never escape. Around him, her earth jutsu holds strong, a coffin.

Sakura stumbles back onto the bed, leaving trails of blood on the covers – his blood, and her blood.

It's not as if she hasn't killed before, or isn't accustomed to the sight of blood. She's done things much, _much _worse than this.

So why is this freaking her out so much?

_Because she's condemned Suigetsu to the same fate as Karin._

Sakura's head swirls, and tears begin pool at her eyes. She's choking, then, but blood is still pooling out of her arm and her stomach and her fist is still encased with parts of his heart-

_I have to get out, _she thinks numbly, _I have to escape._

So she tears across the room and out of the window, running straight into the forest. Except god forbid some civilians see her bleeding and limping away from a dead body – so she veers off the paved path, one hand over her stomach to stem the bleeding.

She feels faint, and she knows that if she doesn't get treated she'll faint.

_Maybe she'll even die of blood loss, _the medic-nin inside her says.

That snaps her out of her reverie. Immediately she sends the little recovered ounces of chakra she has to her injuries. But she barely has any - it's going to be a slow and painstaking process. She needs to lie down, somewhere where it is safe, and there aren't any cameras.

For a second, she contemplates just turning around and checking herself into a hospital. But a murder charge is too much of a risk, even with Itachi and Kisame's connections.

_God _she hopes that Sasori and Deidara felt her chakra flares. They'd come for her.

And just like that, she hears footsteps.

_Wow, _Sakura thinks, _thank god for small mercies. _

But then the figure emerges, and it's not Sasori or Deidara.

It's Juugo, and Uchiha Sasuke stands behind him.

"Well fuck," Sakura curses.

It seems her chakra flares have attracted the wrong people.

Sasuke eyes her grimly, eyes her blood-stained clothes, and pulls out his sword.

But then Sakura feels two other presences appear behind her - familiar ones. The ones she _needed. _

Sasori and Deidara.

_Finally. _

"Took you long enough," she murmurs, right before her head fades into darkness.

* * *

When Sakura wakes up, the first thing she thinks is-

Wow. This pillow smells really nice.

She opens her eyes to a luxurious room, flat screen TV in front of her, bed sheets bundled up around her.

And then she realises that she's not wearing a shirt.

Frantically she looks down, and sees her stomach bound with gauze, along with her arm. Her chest wrappings are still on – thank goodness – and Sakura sighs with relief when she sees that her pants are secure too.

For a second, she's happy.

And then she remembers the horrific events.

It's as if a bucket of ice water has been dumped over her head. Her heart clenches, and the tears are coming on again, and all she can think is- I killed Suigetsu and now he's suffering suffering suffering-

The door opens and Itachi steps inside.

"Good morning Sakura," he says softly.

"I killed him," she murmurs back, "I killed him."

And then the tears begin to fall and Sakura sobs uncontrollably into the bed sheets. Itachi strides over awkwardly and pats her head.

"It's alright," he says, "You're alright."

"I didn't mean to kill him," Sakura manages to say between her wheezes.

Itachi pauses. "I don't think you did."

"'course I didn't mean to," Sakura mumbles.

"No," Itachi says sharply. "I wasn't referring to that. I don't think you _killed _him."

It takes Sakura a moment to register his words. Then she sits up sharply, ignoring the pain in her stomach and turns to him.

"What are you saying," she says quietly. "Don't say that."

"I mean-" Itachi begins, but then the tell-tale sound of footsteps sound outside the door.

"Sakura?" Ino calls, "You in there? Can I come in?"

Immediately Itachi grabs the covers and pulls them over her, hiding her wounds. Sakura quickly wipes her face with her hands and dives under the covers, obscuring any sign of her previous conversation.

"Sure," she says, her voice muffled by the covers, "Come in."

"You've got to be real careful Forehead-girl," Ino says as she opens the door, "You know Deidara's-"

Then she freezes. Her eyes dart from Sakura, to Itachi then back again.

"Oh my god," she says.

Belatedly, Sakura realises that she looks as if she's naked, inside a bed, with Uchiha Itachi.

"Oh great," Sakura mutters. This is not what she wants to be dealing with right now.

Ino stalks over and plonks down next to her.

"Itachi-san," she says, big smile on her face, "If you would excuse us?"

He walks over to the door and waits there.

"Itachi-san-"

"Leave it," Sakura says tiredly. "What'ddya want Ino?"

"Well," the blonde whispers, leaning in, "How about you answer me first? When the hell did you land Uchiha fucking Itachi?"

"I didn't," Sakura says flatly.

"Shh!" Ino exclaims, shooting a quick look at Itachi who simply raises an eyebrow. "Yes," she hisses, "yes you evidently did."

"Ino," Sakura says tiredly. She's about to reach up to rub her eyes but then she realises the stab wound on her arm and quickly shoves it under the covers. "Why did you come here?"

Ino purses her lip, eyeing Sakura quizzically before relenting.

"Alright then. Deidara's escaped."

Sakura bites her lip, hiding her smile. "Oh really? I didn't know."

"Well, yeah. And I thought that since you were his hostage, he might come back for a bit of revenge. So I've taken it upon myself to hire a bodyguard. His name's Sai and he's lovely."

Sakura starts at the name, but quickly reminds herself that he's not her Sai – no one here is her anything. Then Ino's words register and Sakura groans.

"Ino," Sakura sighs, "I don't need one."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I _really _don-"

"If I could cut in?" Itachi says eloquently.

Ino frowns. "Very well."

"I've had much military experience," he says. "Two posts to Afghanistan, one in Iraq. I believe that I'd be perfectly qualified for the job."

Ino looks absolutely flabbergasted. Sakura barely manages to suppress her chuckle, simply digging in deeper into the covers.

"You?" Ino says incredulously, eyeing the seemingly weak pretty boy up and down.

"Yes," Itachi repeats, tone slightly scandalised. "Me."

"But your emotional attachment might hinder you from doing your job!"

"Unlikely."

_How very true that was, _Sakura thought, thinking back to the time he'd left her dying in an Iwa prison after having secured the jewels needed. Kisame had chewed him out for that though, and made him go back and get her.

"Very likely!" Ino says, eyebrows knotting in annoyance. "Not to mention Sai's had experience as a marine, and an undercover agent!"

"Then his talents would be better used elsewhere, then, wouldn't they?" Itachi says, arching an eyebrow. "And plus, I served two years as Police Commissioner in Washington D.C. before I started my corporation."

Ino's mouth opens and closes.

"I see no problem with that!" Sakura pipes up.

"Well then," Itachi says, "It's all sorted then, isn't it? Unless you want me to call up your superior? I know Inoichi-san quite well. I believe he is your father?"

For a second, Ino's face is furious. But then Sakura nudges her friend and her polite mask slips back on.

"Of course," Ino says sweetly, "But if anything happens… it'll be on your head."

"Of course," Itachi says back, just as sweetly. Sakura has a bad feeling that Itachi's just trumped Shikamaru on Ino's hate list.

Then Ino pointedly glares at Itachi before slamming the door behind her.

"That was a bit harsh," Sakura says sheepishly.

Itachi raises an eyebrow. "You would prefer having someone tail you?"

"Well… no," Sakura relents, "But she did have a good point about the emotional attachment thing – a perfectly reasonable conclusion she drew based off the evident."

"Correct under what she assumed was true," Itachi says flatly, "But not correct."

Sakura's lips begin to curl into a grin. "Whatever you want to think."

Itachi swerves towards her, eyes narrowing. "What do you mean by that?"

Sakura shrugs. "Ino was right, and you know it."

"Preposterous. I'm always right."

Sakura simply smiles.

"Why did you offer anyway?" Sakura asks, sinking back down into the bed. "You could have just told her you knew some guy who could do it. Now we'll have to stick together all the time."

"Ah yes," Itachi says softly, "I have a hunch."

Immediately Sakura sits up, not caring if she reveals her chest – they're bound anyway. "About Suigetsu?"

"Yes," he says. "I had my men chase down his body. But it's gone."

"So Hebi has it."

Itachi pauses. "I'm not so sure about that."

"What do you mean?" Sakura says sharply, biting her lip, "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking," Itachi says slowly, "That Sasuke doesn't have the body. I suffered great backlash after killing Karin – backlash you don't seem to be experiencing."

Sakura stares at him flatly before gesturing down to her two stab wounds.

"Not like that," he says, rolling his eyes, "But mental backlash. Migraines, crippling ones, and effects unlike the ones I experienced after using mangekyou. But not you."

Sakura nods slowly, processing the new information.

"But how does that connect to the body? Why do you think Sasuke doesn't have it?"

"I can't tell you," Itachi says in frustration, running a hand through his hair, "But you have to trust me."

Sakura hesitates. A few weeks ago, she would have never agreed. A lifetime ago, she would have agreed in a heartbeat.

"Please," Itachi says softly, "You have to trust me."

Sakura pauses before reaching over and taking his hand in hers. His palm is thousands of times smoother than before – no doubt from handling pens and computers rather than kunai and shuriken.

"Alright," she agrees, "Alright."

* * *

AN: Hope you all enjoyed that! I've also started some other multi-chaptered fics which are quite different from this, but they're all still tentative. I might post them soon, depending on how they're going. But anyway, next chapter will be coming, and please review, let me know what you thought!


	8. Flowers of Annihilation

**AN: **Sorry this took so long to get up guys, but, as you will see, many things will happen. Plus, I've also been working on another multi-chap story - a team 7 time travel one as some of you may know, and that on top of RL is taking up my time. Thanks to Broken Reveries, pussifoot and Guest for your reviews :)

* * *

**Flowers of Annihilation **

Sakura sits on her bed, tossing the kunai up and down, up and down.

For a moment, the moon emerges from behind the clouds, splattering the room with light. The rays reflect off her kunai, making the walls opposite her dance.

Beside her, Itachi watches the muted TV, honing his lip-reading skills.

Sakura glances at the clock – 1:05. In the morning.

"Can we sleep now?" she asks again.

"No."

Sakura frowns and places her kunai down, grabbing some shuriken instead.

"Now?"

"No."

Sakura sighs, leaning back into the bed. Her eyes are drooping shut already – and her body's screaming at her to sleep. God knows what Itachi's thinking, making an injured person like her stay up all night.

She inspects the shuriken, the metal muted.

"It feels very similar," she says, "What is it? Aluminium? Steel? What were our kunai made up of anyway?"

"It's an alloy," Itachi says, "I got them made especially for you, according to the ones made in Konoha."

"That's nice," she comments.

"It was practical," he says flatly. "You had neither the time nor the energy to adapt to the new metals used in such weapons today."

"Mm?"

"The ones the majority of Akatsuki use today are lighter ones, using a blend discovered around a hundred years ago. The metal makes the weapons lighter, but similarly weighted and the rust-"

Suddenly, both freeze.

"A chakra signature," Sakura says blankly. Itachi simply nods.

"Do you know who it is?"

Itachi pauses. "I have my guesses."

"Aa," Sakura nods. "It's Sasuke isn't it."

"…yes."

Sakura stands up, letting the covers fall off her before she takes a sit down next to Itachi.

"What does he want?" she murmurs softly. "Can you at least tell me that?"

Itachi purses his lips, eyes steeled on the window.

"Give me a warning," Sakura pleads. "What are we expecting? _Please. _He was my teammate too. I-"

"Love him," Itachi grits. "Yes. I know."

"Loved him," she corrects softly.

Itachi continues to stare firmly at the window before he lets out a soft sigh.

"He'll be angry," he finally says, "But it's not what he thinks. It's not what-"

"I think either," Sakura finishes, a wry smile on her face. "Yeah. I know."

She takes a deep breath and inhales the night air, letting her breath go softly before repeating the process, steadying her heartbeat as Sasuke's chakra signature continues flaring closer.

"He's not suppressing his chakra," Sakura observes, "He knows we're expecting him." Then she pauses, shooting a sidelong glance at Itachi. "Why?"

"He's an Uchiha," Itachi says, eyes never leaving the open window. "He has the same suspicions as I do."

"An Uchiha…" Sakura muses softly. "The Uchiha sure have a lot of secrets."

"…maybe not because of that," Itachi says quietly before his eyes finally leave the window and find hers. "Maybe it's because he knows you."

Sakura's mouth opens, and closes, and opens again.

"I-"

Itachi whirls around.

"He's here," he says, swallowing harshly.

"You're scared," Sakura whispers. _I'm scared._

"I have a feeling I know what he's going to say… what this is going to lead to."

Sakura turns to face him, but before she can ask him to elaborate a shadow falls over their room. Sasuke is here.

"Hi," Sakura whispers.

"Sakura," Sasuke addresses harshly,"Aniki."

"Why are you here?" Itachi asks patiently.

"Give me Suigetsu," he hisses, "I know you have him."

Sakura's head snaps up.

"What? No! You have him."

"No," Sasuke repeats, "I don't. _You _have him. You _have _to have him." He's beginning to look frenzied and his eyes are wide and trembling. He looks as if his sharingan is going to burst through any minute.

"We don't," Sakura repeats pleadingly. "We really don't. But where is he then? We have to find him-"

"_No,_" Sasuke spits harshly, "You have to have him. You _have _to have him. Don't lie to me Sakura, not now, not like this. _Sakura-"_

"We don't have him," Itachi cuts in. Sasuke begins to tremble, fists clenching around the edges of the window.

"Sasuke," Sakura breathes. She leans forward and pulls him forward. Sasuke stares up at her beseechingly, for a second with the vulnerability of the bumbling genin she knew all those years ago. But it disappears just as quickly and he stumbles forward onto a chair, head bowed in his hands.

"No," he echoes brokenly. "Where is he then? I have to find him. No no no no no. He has to be alright. He _has _to be. I can't – it's my fault he's-"

And the guilt hits Sakura so hard that she stumbles back onto the bed. Tears are beginning to drip through Sasuke's fingers, and the sight is so heartbreaking that Sakura too begins to cry.

"These years have broken us," Itachi echoes emptily.

"He's in pain," Sasuke breathes shakily, "And so is Karin. And it's all my fault. My fault-"

"Yes," Itachi bites, uncharacteristically sharp. Sasuke recoils, as if he's been struck. No longer does he look like an Avenger. Instead, Sakura sees the little boy of six craving the approval of his brother.

"It is your fault," Itachi repeats, but Sakura can see tears glistening in his eyes too. "But not Suigetsu. No. I think he's in a happier place."

Sasuke's head shoots up, eyes wide. In a flash he stands up, striding forward to his brother before peering into his eyes.

"You mean – you think as well that he-"

"I do," Itachi says, and his voice shakes with an emotion that Sakura can't pinpoint. "I _do."_

And then Sasuke whirls onto Sakura and asks in the most vulnerable voice she's heard-

"Did you save him?"

Sakura opens her mouth to answer – _I don't know what you're talking about! – _but then suddenly her vision swarms, and it feels like she's having a vision _all over again-_

Except this time it's not a vision. It's a memory.

"_I am no one," the doctor says, "I am everyone. But who I am does not matter. What do you want, child?"_

"_To escape," Sakura replies automatically, "To die. To be free."_

_And then he smiles._

"_You never did belong here. It was never meant to be you."_

_Then, he leans over and clasps her hands in his._

"_Your hands have the power," he says quietly. "Use them. They who brought you here will bring you out."_

Sakura's eyes snap open. The two Uchiha brothers stare at her steadily, all knowing and sad.

"I think I know what you mean," Sakura says hollowly. Then she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, reaching inside her mind, her own soul.

She thinks of the medical officer who was no one and everyone. She thinks of Ino's body lying in the coffin, a flower chain in her hair. She thinks of growing up in Tokyo, and learning English. She thinks of Team 7, and the mission to Wave. She thinks of getting her first iPhone. She thinks of getting her hitai-ite. She thinks of the ninja world, of Water, Earth, Lightning, Fire and Wind. She thinks of earth, and Asia, Australia, America, Europe, Africa. She thinks of Inner, and she thinks of her own time as Inner.

And when she opens her eyes again, she _knows. _

Trembling, Itachi reaches forward and brushes her hair back.

The Strength of a Hundred Seal shines brightly back.

"You're the key," Sasuke laughs bitterly, "The key to the new world. If by your hand we die… we _die."_

"Properly," Itachi agrees vacantly, mesmerised with her seal.

"How much chakra is _in _there?" Sasuke asks, desperate, pleading.

"Not enough," Sakura breathes, "_Not fucking enough._ I'll need much more to release us-"

"Can't you just kill us?" Sasuke cuts in. "It worked for Suigetsu."

"Yes," Sakura says, "But it'll _hurt. _It'll feel like the jutsu was originally supposed to feel like – tearing you apart before sticking you back together. And you'll be able to _feel _it!If I use the seal it'll be painless, quick, and don't you want to go together?"

But then Sasuke is in front of her. His eyes catch hers and he stares, pleadingly and brokenly. Slowly, he reaches up and cups her cheek.

"I can't wait," he whispers. "_Please. _This has been torture enough."

Sakura shakes her head. "What are you saying? _What are you asking?"_

She's nearly in hysterics, but Sasuke's still in front of her, comforting yet broken. Behind him, Itachi turns away resolutely, a few tears splattering onto the floor.

"Kill me," Sasuke says.

And then Sakura bursts into tears, and then Sasuke's tearing up too, and behind them Itachi suffers silently, chokingly.

"I can't. I can't I _can't."_

"Please," Sasuke repeats, "_I can't deal with this anymore."_

Sakura breaks away from his hold, shaking her head as she repeats – "_No. _No no no no no. I can't. I _can't._"

"Sakura," Sasuke says softly, and then his lips curve up into a shaky smile. "You're annoying."

And then Sakura chokes up further and the pain fills her up, those wasted years where he was off with Orochimaru and she was off with Konoha and _who knows what could have happened? _

And then Itachi suddenly says – "_Do it_."

Sakura whirls around. But Itachi stands away from them, back to the wall.

"Aniki…" Sasuke whispers.

"Do it," Itachi repeats. "End his suffering."

Then he turns around and he's smiling and crying at the _same fucking time-_

Sasuke steps forward and in a second the brothers are embracing, choked with empty sobs.

"I love you," Itachi whispers, "I love you I love you I love you."

And Sasuke breaks down even harder and the tears are streaming down his face. "Thank you," he says, choking on his words, "Thank you. I love you too aniki. I love you too. _Thank you so much. _I- I've missed you."

And then Itachi pulls back and taps him on the forehead with two fingers and walks out the door.

Sasuke falls to his knees as his brother walks away, unable to watch his execution.

Sakura collapses next to him and the two sob – sob for an ending. A _real _ending.

"Do it," Sasuke finally manages to say.

"Alright," Sakura agrees wobbly, giving him a half-hearted smile filled with pain and regret and old love. "A-any last words?"

Sasuke stands up and pushes his shoulders back. "Kill me the shinobi way. I want to die honourably. And- and find Juugo after me. He deserves his own ending."

"Alright," Sakura whispers, "Alright."

And then she stands up too and looks once more at the boy she loved and lost-

"Goodbye Sasuke," she whispers.

Then she draws her fist back and _punches._

Sasuke recoils back, blood spurting out of his mouth and all over her arm.

But then he smiles, his lips stained with blood.

"Sakura…" he croaks, "_Thank you."_

And then he dies.

"_Your hands have the power. Use them. They who brought you here will bring you out."_

Sakura pulls out a kunai and presses it against her neck. A few drops of blood begin to fall.

She could end it now.

She could end _all _of this now.

But then her grip falters. She can't do this. Not without freeing everyone else first. The pain she would put them through just to take the quick, easy way out herself.

Disgusted, she throws the kunai onto the ground and leaps out the window, leaving behind a disappearing body of Uchiha Sasuke and a room full of blood and fingerprints.

* * *

Sakura pulls her hoodie over her pink hair and walks back to her apartment in the rain.

She doesn't know where Itachi is – he's suppressing his chakra – and that can only mean he doesn't want to be found.

It's no wonder though, Sakura thinks grimly, she's just killed his little brother.

But at least Sasuke has peace now, right?

Sakura sighs. She doesn't know anything.

Sakura steels herself and straightens her back. The rain begins to pound down harder. It's probably only two something in the morning now anyway. She should go back to her apartment.

No.

She should find Juugo first. He has no one, now that Sasuke's gone. He deserves his own ending.

Sakura stops in her tracks.

But where could he be?

Sasuke's house? Does he live by himself? There's no way she can feel his chakra – he probably has it completely suppressed with the way Akatsuki are chasing him.

But if not Sasuke's house then where? What does Juugo even enjoy doing?

She curses Sasuke in her head half-heartedly. Couldn't he have at least left her some clue? How would she even get to Juugo?

And then she realises.

_Of course! _Akatsuki had had the exact same problem! And how did they overcome it?

Deidara blew up the Opera House.

_Okay, _Sakura chides herself, _not something that big. But something that will get widespread exposure. But then I'll need to prove I'm trustworthy. How can I do that? Troublesome…_

Her phone beeps.

Sakura quickly fumbles around in her pockets, trying to find the device.

_Beep beep. Beep beep._

Finally she finds it in the deep recesses of her jacket. She quickly pulls it out and checks it – _Ino. _

Sakura quickly ducks under the shelter of a bus stop and answers.

"Hey Ino," she says quietly.

"Sakura! Hey, look. I'm at the Hotel Inn Express and I was checking security footage. You're in it."

Sakura immediately stiffens, on guard.

"Yes?" she asks cautiously.

"Except," Ino says carefully, "You and Itachi told me you were together. In his house. _Two hours away."_

Sakura opens her mouth to answer, then closes it again, having no idea what to say.

Finally, she settles with – "What are you suggesting?"

Ino pauses. Sakura can hear her breathing heavily through the sound of rain.

"A boy went missing there Sakura. Hozuki Suigetsu. Twenty five. Silver hair. Sound familiar?"

"No," Sakura says, uncharacteristically sharp.

"You're also not seen leaving," Ino says quietly. "But yet you were _clearly _gone. How did you get out?"

Sakura stays silent, no idea how to answer her.

"Sakura," Ino pleads, "Tell me what's going on. What have you gotten yourself into? Is it Deidara? If it is you _have _to tell me. I can help. And Itachi? Where is he? I've called him but he's not answering. Are you even safe? Is that rain I here outside? Sakura are you-"

Ino silences and Sakura can hear the muffled voice of someone talking to your friend.

"…really." Ino says icily.

More muffled talking on the other side.

"_Ha._" She spits. "Sakura," she says. "I've got to go. There's another case. You better tell me what's going on."

And then she hangs up.

_Another case… _Sakura thinks. And then – _Sasuke! Sasuke's disappearance!_

There won't be any body for them to find in the room – _oh my god. _Ino will probably go to her room to check up on her. And that's where she'll find lots of blood – even if Sasuke's body is disappeared – and her fingerprints are _all over the scene._

Sakura crushes her phone in her hand. Ino will probably be able to track it. _Shit. _Now she's got a full police squad on her tail. They'll find out sooner or later. What she needs to do now is go back to her apartment, and _grab some cash. _

She'll need it to survive, to go and find Juugo and gather the rest of Akatsuki.

Pursing her lips grimly, she runs out of the bus shelter. The rain is pounding down now, up to the point it completely obscures her vision.

_Good, _Sakura thinks, _that means that no one else can see her either. _

Then she pushes chakra to her feet and _runs. _

* * *

It's around five in the morning now, and Sakura has been trekking the long way back to her apartment for two hours.

The sun's beginning to come up but the street is still empty, water pooling in the crevices from the heavy rain the night before.

Suddenly, the payphone in front of her rings.

Sakura pauses before she instinctively reaches out with her chakra, searching for other people around her. But then she remembers that no one else _has _chakra.

Sighing, she settles for looking around, but she sees nothing.

But she pulls up the head of her hoodie anyway, obscuring her face momentarily before she performs a quick henge. When the hoodie drops back down, she has brown hair and blue eyes.

The payphone is still ringing so Sakura takes a gamble and answers it.

"Hello?"

"Sakura."

Sakura groans. "Seriously? _Kakuzu? _You gave me a fucking heart attack! I thought you were the enemy!"

Silence on the other line.

"I called you for a reason," Kakuzu finally says. "The SWAT team are onto you. Headed by Danzou. I'm sure you remember him from your old life? He's the same. And they're around five minutes away."

And suddenly, Sakura can hear the sirens and _is that a helicopter?_

"Kakuzu! What do I do? What do they even want me for? I- I have to find Juugo and-"

"Stop talking to me. _Run."_

* * *

**AN: **So... Sasuke died. Yep. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Anyway, leave me a review and tell me what you think. I've just updated two stories and I have all these MIXED FEELINGS it's killing me aaahhh. Love you guys :)


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